Interview with Aureliano Amadei, director of "20 Cigarettes". Story of a murder that involves everyone, told by the sole survivor
L’Italo-Americano is proud to present this exclusive interview with Aureliano Amadei, Italian director and only survivor of the carnage of Nassirya. A man who honestly told us about his almost mortal experience that led him to his film, “20 cigarettes”, which won the important Controcampo Award of the Venice Film Festival 2010.
You probably often answer to this question: how was it to revise the pain and to find a right detachment to tell your personal experience, before in a book, published by Einaudi, and then in a movie?
Telling my personal story was necessary for me, as a therapeutic cure. I needed to explain and to talk about my experience, to overcome my pain. So writing the book has been curative for me. The book and the movie have been stages of my life, like when you meet a person and know something new that enrich your personality. The major risk was adding too much information about me. What I really didn’t want was to defile my story with pride.
I can affirm that has been tough understanding which part of my story could be work for my work, isolating the most important elements of the story and telling about myself without any rhetoric. I hope I have been able to do it.
Why did you decide to transpose your book in a movie?
I thought that it would have been an easy operation because the book is very cinematographic. I remember all about the massacre like a film in my mind, but we had many difficulties to transpose the book. My co-authors (Francesco Trento, Gianni Romoli, Volfango de Biasi) and I tried to write many screenplays, and finally after seven versions we found the best one. A very complicated operation but we had our satisfactions.
As the only survivor of the suicide attack in Nassirya, you have had the hard duty to tell the truth. How was it to live with this responsibility?
It was and it is still hard. I’m proud to have told the truth; in fact my book has been recognized as an official document for the process acts. I feel the responsibility of all the victims' families, everybody has been very happy to see my movie.
What about your directorial style?
I chose to use hand-held camera and many subjective shots, especially one of 12 minutes. Brave choice for a debut, but it perfectly represents my memories.
In an autobiographical movie it is very hard to find an actor that can play yourself. Why did you choose Vinicio Marchioni?
After a very long period of casting, we selected him for another character, but when we started the shots, I realized that he would have been the best actor for my role. Marchioni has a great intrinsic contradiction, he is a very serious and professional actor and at the same time also a humble and sensitive man. He shows the contradictions that live in my personal story and generally speaking in life.
How did you react to such a great success?
I was really surprised. The first screening of “20 cigarettes” has been during the Festival of Venice and when the movie finished and people did fifteen minutes of standing ovation, I was moved to tears. People understand my personal story and they appreciate it.
Has it been tough to find producers for your film?
Yes, it has. As for every good movie in the capitalistic society finding producers is often really tough. At last, we found it and we did the movie.
Now your father and you own a film production, the “MotoProduzioni”, tell us about this experience.
It’s a new experience for me and we are finding many obstacles. It’s a cultural mission and we are like its volunteers.
Plans for the future?
I will start in a while the shots, in Los Angeles, for my new documentary that will talk about the major, MGM. I’m writing also another screenplay, but it’s still a secret.
Valentina Calabrese
contributor
