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I LOVE, THEREFORE I AM: STEFANO CONSIGLIO RECOUNTS THE SIMPLICITY OF EMOTIONS
04/09/2009
When Stefano Consiglio’s film was selected for Venice Days, the subject of homosexuality was very much in the news because there is still no normal approach to it. It is still impossible to put for the idea of the documentary’s title, L’Amore e Basta (literally, “Love, Period”). It means to say that love is enough: what else must people demonstrate to affirm their identity and happiness? Is it actually necessary to prove anything in order to “deserve” freedom?
Following the anti-gay violence of recent days in various Italian cities, both the screening of Consiglio’s film and the encounter organized at the Filmmakers Villa became much more significant. The latter was attended by the director; former French Cultural Minister Jack Lang, a leading proponent of freedom and civil rights for homosexuals; former parliamentarian and honorary president of Arcigay, Franco Grillini; actor Luca Zingaretti, who in the film reads a monologue written by Aldo Nove; animator Ursula Ferrara, whose works is interspersed between the nine interviews in the documentary; and producer Angelo Barbagallo and Andrea Occhipinti.
The event was opened wittily with a sonnet by Nove, read by Zingaretti and entitled Sonetto Ricchione (“Fag Sonnet”), on the numerous meanings that Italian word has taken on, all negative. Speaking of the film and above all on the reasons why he felt compelled to make a documentary on homosexual love, Consiglio said that listening to the points of view of children he began to feel the need to go beyond a “distracted attitude” and tackled the subject without prejudice. To depict the simplicity of homosexual relationships, summed up by the concept “I love, there I am”.
Thanks to his longer experience as minister and representative of French culture, Lang, discussed the situation in his country and in particular the long battle begun in the early 1980s against sexual discrimination and for the political and legislative recognition of gay rights with regards to marriage and adoption. According to him, “the greatest obstacle in reaching collective tolerance comes above all from the political leaders, and not civic society, which as we see in Consiglio’s film is much more mature. The right and left have been a hindrance for obtaining civil gay rights”.
This situation extends to many other countries, including Italy, where there are still serious cases of discrimination that have exploded into violence, like the recent events in Rome cited by Grillini. He emphasized the lack of a current political debate in Italy on domestic partner laws.
Lastly, producers Barbagallo and Occhipinti wanted to work on Consiglio’s project because they were struck “by his desire to discover the simplicity of homosexual love”.
The director says his work was made easy by the people he interviewed, who wanted to show “the joy of communicating their experiences without victimization.” Artistically speaking, Consiglio was more than pleased to have been able to work with Ferrara and writer Nove.
In the Photogallery (left), pictures from the meeting at the Villa
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