[INTERVIEW] Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia (Sicilian Ghost Story)

With Sicilian Ghost Story, Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia tell a terrible story that occurred in the years 1990 – on November 23, 1993, the Cosa Nostra kidnappa Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a ” indic “, and the garda for 779 days. A history claim that they deal with fiction, to stretch, sometimes to a fantasy tale around the love of two teenagers. In Cannes, where they were the opening of the Week of Criticism, they evoke their own past in Sicily, at a time when the mafia was doing his act, and no escape seemed possible.

 

After the presentation of your film at the opening of the semaine de la Critique, you were seen, you and the entire team, extremely moved.

Fabio Grassadonia : Yes, it was extremely touching to us, because this is the first time that I saw the film with young actors in the film. It was like reliving this painful history, and in the end, everyone was in tears. And to be able to share this with the public, this is really something moving. This story is related to our life

That is to say ?

Antonio Piazza : Fabio and I grew up in Sicily and what different things have happened in the mid-1990s. After this event, we have decided to leave Sicily. But this story has always accompanied a certain way.

When did you start to collaborate together ?

F. G : In fact, it is in Turin that we when we was a student in a master of scenario. We then began to work together, to Rome, as co-screenwriters for television. After a few years, it has reached a stage where we had to change, because we realized that it was difficult to tell our own stories through the media of the Italian television. We were not satisfied and we really wanted to talk about something which we cared, with a decor that was clean, Sicily. The decision to carry, most of all, is thus made quite naturally. It was, say, a matter of artistic coherence, since we share the same vision.

Be in two poses-there not problems during filming ?

A. P : No, because most things are resolved at the time of writing. It develops really the script already in mind, the staging and direction of actors, in addition to the dramaturgy. Thus, those who collaborate with us on the film, the technicians, other, reading the script, know where it wants to go. Of course, from the moment we are working with the actors, must be ready to adapt and be open to suggestions.

About the movie, so you’re party of a fact various, but do not stay focused on it. You bring a lot of fictitious elements, including the young girl, as well as a fantastic finishing touch.

A. P : For us, it was the only way to tell this story. Because at the core, this is a story where there is no redemption possible, for anyone. We didn’t want to go in this direction. But a few years ago, we discovered a novel depicting the history, through the prism of the fantastic. It seemed to us a good idea as an approach. And passing through the eyes of teenagers, one then obtains the famous redemption that they were looking for.

F. G : In fact, our films are always centered on the meeting of two beings. Here, it is between a young boy, inspired by the reality, and a young girl fictional. What happens to the boy is released so the main character had to be the girl and it had to be totally different. This allowed to develop a romantic relationship very naive and tender. And this is the most important, because, if one fails to believe that a young girl, after spending just a few hours with a boy, is able to go into hell for him, then you and the rest is credible and acceptable to the viewer.

If one clings to these young people, the adult world is particularly dark. Why this choice ?

F. G : The film, therefore, takes place in Sicily in the 1990s. It should be understood that at the time, there was a universe very strange. Every day, in Palermo, there was in the newspapers a number indicated, that increased every day. It was the number of people killed. There have been hundreds during the war between the mafia members. After which, they began to kill people in public, judges, police officers. It was an awful period where there seemed to be no escape, because no one, including the government, was ready to tackle the mafia. So in the end, we only reproduce a world, where the adults in their wholeness, you learn to look away, to not react and carry on as if nothing had happened. And this is obviously reflected in the parents of Luna, which like all, are in fear.

Remarks collected by Pierre Siclier