- What inspired you to work in the film industry?
As a child, in Istanbul, at the end of ‘70s, my mother often brought me to the cinema, sometimes I went with my aunts too. My mother also loved music and opera. This emotional approach to opera has been useful when I recently directed Aida, La Traviata and Madame Butterfly, opening in prestigious theatres in Florence and Naples and then in tour worldwide. Enchanted by the artistic production I approached as a kid, I arrived in Florence to study art, I was 17. Then I moved to Rome, I had just little money and I used to be an amateur painter, so I managed to sell some of my works and this helped me in carrying on. Still nowadays, I sometimes use some of my paintings in my films, as art decor for my set, there are some in THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE as well. Cinema always fascinated me, divas like Sophia Loren, Alida Valli, Anna Magnani, movies by De Sica and Fellini, Bertolucci and the great maestros of Italian Comedy such as Dino Risi, Pietro Germi, Pietrangeli, Ettore Scola. I started from scratch, I had the chance to meet some directors when I interviewed them for a film magazine I was writing for, and I had the opportunity of entering the Cinecittà studios, they were magical. I started as a “tea boy”, step by step I managed to become assistant director and then I had my debut as director in 1997 with “Hammam” shot in Turkey but with many Italian actors. It was my first step in this great circus of Italian cinema, so much well known all over the world, my films (so far 13) went to Cannes, Venice, had a dedicated series at MOMA. I have been living in Rome for 43 years now, it is a city I could never leave, I am an Italian citizen but I’ve also kept a very strong bond with Turkey where I still have family and friends who are very important to me.
- What does Pride mean to you, and do you have any advice for the next generation?
Pride for me has always been a way to live freedom, the desire to love and share emotions, passion, eroticism, sometimes in a transgressive and flamboyant way, as it happens in everyone’s life, homosexuals and heterosexuals. With all my works, whether movies, novels or art performances, I’ve always tried to express the “normality of living something that for some people is different”. Maybe I’ve been more lucky than other gay people, I’ve married a man I love, I’ve a job I like more than anything else, I’ve a large family made of friends of any kind, any nationality and any sexual orientation (even if I don’t really like this wording). I totally know that for many people, mainly young people, the “coming out” and the way they live their choice and their sexual desire, is a very hard and sometimes violent experience, in families, at school and in their own community. I’ve lived the same. To new generations facing this troubles, I can only suggest to search for solidarity not only in their circle, the risk is to create a ghetto. I suggest for instance to go out as much as possible with heterosexual friend too and their partners, it’s also a sort of creating a shield, a further protection from violence and discrimination. Beside this, there is also a different approach to carry on workplaces where fights for emancipation and respect of civil rights are mandatory. By the way, I don’t feel like a prophet who can give wise advice, I’m just a humble artist who’s happy to look for passion, love and freedom in his art and bring them to others through his art.
- What is your next project?
My longtime collaborators and I are working on a new film, I’m writing it in particular with my screenwriter Gianni Romoli who’s also the producer of almost all my films. It’s a film I aim to shoot within next year. At the moment though, I’m very busy shooting the tv series for Disney+ based on my film “Ignorant Fairies” which turns 20 this year. That film was an incredible success, surprising both for the audience and for the critics, it became a milestone in the narration of Italian society and cultural habits. For this reason Disney decided to produce it and release it on Disney Star worldwide. It’s a lot of work that will keep me busy for many months but I’m very happy that after 20 years, this powerful tale could travel again in so many countries in the world.