Salve ragazzi,
C’era una volta (once upon a time), I met a talented young director, and we became fast friends. Marta Savina was in New York City for the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival with her short film Viola, Franca, and my “interview” with her and her cast was more like a fun conversation with friends than anything else. I wanted to adopt her, but since that seemed impractical, I make her call me Aunt Cheri.
Marta had learned about moviemaking by studying at UCLA Film School and then working with Frances Ford Coppola.
“He’s like watching a little child who loves film,” says Marta. “For him, everything begins with the shot. Every single shot is there for a purpose.”
“Of course I knew that”, she says, “but watching Francis Ford Coppola do it was amazing. I got to watch him get frustrated, try things, and look for things that work. It demystified things; the director doesn’t always know immediately what’s right.
”
Viola, Franca is the based-on-a-true story about the circumstances around the first rape trial in Italy. In 1965 a 17-year-old Sicilian girl was raped and expected to marry her rapist. In those days, that was the deal; you could save yourself and your family the shame of pre-marital sex by agreeing to what they called a “reparation marriage”.
But Franca wasn’t having any of it. With the support of her family, she pressed charges against her attacker, and he went to jail.
For Marta, though, it’s not as simple as “good guy wins/bad buy loses”, and none of the outcome is black and white. “It was important to me that the character wasn’t just some evil guy,” she explained. “He was just how some men were. It made me think about the banality of evil.”
“The scary thing about it was that everything was so normal. That’s just how you treated women, and there are so many other problems that stem from that.”
For instance, “At that time as women we were expected to be squeamish (about sex), and he never really thought he was raping her.” So in what Marta calls “a really twisted dynamic”, “no” meant “yes”, that is until 17-year-old Franca Viola stood up and said “no”, meant “no”, and took the guy to court to prove it.
“This may be controversial, but in a way, he’s almost like the victim,” muses Marta. “Franca is definitely NOT a victim. She falls victim to violence, but she bounces back. He, on the other hand, was a product of his society.”
Marta doesn’t shy away from calling Viola Franca a film about female identity and talks about the need to “assert it in a way that is inclusive of all identities.”
I really do think that this is true feminism”, she says. “The enemy of feminism is discriminating against each other and pitting ourselves against each other. That’s really the death of feminism.”
“By telling stories that are diverse,” says Marta, “and portraying different kinds of femininity, we open up a conversation about our system.”
“It’s like Franca, who says, ‘This is who I am, and I’m not sorry.”
Sounds like it would make a great feature film; am I right?
Well, lucky us. It is a feature film, and you can watch it FOR FREE today and tomorrow, thanks to Italian Film Festival USA if you are on their mailing list.
I don’t know if it’s too late to get on it, but I would try! The IFFUSA people are great.
Remembering Federico Fellini on his birthday
If you know me at all, you have heard me say that I’m not the biggest Fellini fan, but I do love his wife, Giulietta Masina, in Nights of Cabiria.
Tell us your favorite Fellini film in the comments section!
Coming To USA theaters February 23
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:
Io Capitano recounts the epic journey of two young men from Senegal who make their way across Africa—and through myriad dangers—in pursuit of a dream called Europe. We began work on the film by listening to the actual accounts of people who survived this contemporary odyssey, and we decided to orient the camera from their perspective: a sort of reverse shot compared to the images we’re used to seeing from our Western perspective in an attempt to finally give voice to those who don’t usually have one. — Matteo Garrone
This Tuesday, January 23, we'll know if Io Capitano makes the cut for an Oscar nomination! Fingers crossed! 🤞
In Theaters on March 29, 2024!
Can’t wait for Alice Rohrwacher’s ‘La Chimera’!
Alla prossima!
Un bacione💋,
Cheri
America’s Cheerleader For Italian Cinema
Thanks, Cheri. Will see if Viola, Franca is still accessible.
Also, a big THANK YOU on the Alice Rohrwacher "La Chimera" film heads up. I am a BIG FAN of Alice's work, and I think I have seen most of her films. What Alice captures is really special. And, I always enjoy seeing the many diverse roles Alba can play, in Alice's films, and others. Talent in that family!
*Barbara :-(