Saturday, June 5, 2010

Open Roads: Rocco Papaleo's BASILICATA COAST TO COAST debuts

From left: Gassman, Briguglia, Papaleo, Gazzè, Mezzogiorno

At yesterday's public screening of Rocco Papaleo's BASILICATA COAST TO COAST, the audience response was enthusiastic, as much for the film as for Signore Papaleo himself, who appeared pre- and post-movie for a short Q&A, in which he told us how he assembled such a great cast "(Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Alessandro Gassman are both friends"), and what he would like an audience to come away from the film feeling and understanding ("that there is another Italy out there that you do not know: one without Mafia and politicians" and also how fondly he remembers his two cousins and their stories, and so he wanted to tell us about this, too). How difficult was it to direct yourself? one audience member asked: "Difficult -- because I am not a good actor. But that was OK because I had a good director." Big laugh here, as Papaleo is also the film's director. Does this film have U.S. distribution? "Not yet, but we hope to." And finally, Is that wonderful music available anywhere? "No. It's a bad period for music in Italy. Many companies are closing and the few left, when we asked them to produce an album, they asked us, 'Why?'."

You can find TrustMovies' short review of the film in his OPEN ROADS post. Click here and just scroll down a bit.

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