When we call them he is in Toronto, at the Festival. Has just Won the silver lion – Jury Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival. But the path has just begun. Maura Delpero is the genius behind Vermilion, The revelation of this film season. It tells of a small community, Vermiglio precisely, during the Second World War. It is a choral fresco, female, which focuses on the Graziadei family. Every day dreams mix with an increasingly difficult reality. «I am a little tossed (laughs, editor’s note). But I’m really happy, “explains Delpero. Did you live in Vermiglio? “No, I was born in Bolzano. Vermiglio was the place we went on vacation. I come from a big family, where there were many uncles. Then over the years they all migrated to the city. Vermiglio was where we played as children, the grandparents’ house. I gently remember people, the nature, the cold, the smell of my grandmother’s potato pancakes. I was very close to her. I fascinated that shared dimension, where there were many stories to tell. Perhaps this is also why I fell in love with cinema ». In his speech at the Lido he referred precisely to the family. «It’s true, and friends are also part of it. You feel protected in every continent if you have a close one who you love. In my case I am my husband and daughter. In Venice I focused on the fact that we are sometimes asked to choose between work and being a parent. There is never a fair balance, it is constant research. I try to be there to important appointments, to make several elements coexist. But it is complex. My appeal is not to think that harmony is only a problem of women, but of all, also of my male colleagues. We serve a strong cultural backwardness. We complain about a low birth rate, but we are pushed to perceive children as a threat to our career ». What can society do? «We need greater responsibility, education, sensitivity, at every level. We must teach the time of reflection, reading, thought, in these decades so aggressive. The search for beauty is fundamental, which clashes with the excessive speed of each day. They delude us that every moment should capitalistically give a result. Instead it is not true, you need a counterpart. And all this must be learned from children, only in this way does it become tolerant and racism is defeated ». Maternity is a recurring theme in its films. It is no coincidence that one of his titles is Maternal. “I realized a posteriori. For years I thought it was linked to my growth path, when women discovered. Perhaps it is something further away, which has its roots in the link with my mother, who has been complex. What happens in childhood always accompanies us, because it is a time when we are defenseless. I grew up in an era when you were very alone, and men disappeared all day to work. However, I had the privilege of living in a reality in peace. My parents were young, they loved each other, but they were a little lost, too busy. They still didn’t have an emotional maturity. Some situations were conflicting. I would have liked so many brothers, instead they did not come, and I turned into a little girl a little closed in herself. The camera was the expressive vehicle to rework what I had inside “. Then he moved from Bolzano.
Maura Delpero, 49 years old, winner of David di Donatello for best director
Now do you live in Buenos Aires? “It is true. I’ve always been a bit of a top (laughs, editor’s note). First Bologna, then immediately abroad and now Argentina. Other languages, traditions attract me. Buenos Aires I feel it mine, as an Italian I feel a great identity coincidence, our community is strong. I appreciate it because it is human, lively, full of philosophy ». This philosophy in his cinema becomes spirituality, and finally religion. The nuns are always very present characters. «In truth I am secular. My aunts were very close to the Church, and they transmitted it to me. I wish to investigate the mystery of faith, as well as prayer, cloister. I went to Assisi to meet the Franciscan friars, to better understand their choices. One of them struck me deeply. He made me understand that I could not understand. That the serenity to which he had come was not comparable to any earthly experience. And that I had to trust it. “Would you have to represent Italy to the Oscars? “Of course, I would like it. Vermilion It would be a nice business card even overseas. Above all because it invites to give the right value to things in this contemporary so tumultuous ».
