Gianni Amelio for “The Ant Lord” and homophobia in Italy

Veteran Italian author Gianni Amelio rose to prominence with the Academy Award-nominated film “Open Doors” (1990) and also “The Stolen Children” which won the 1992 Cannes Grand Prix. He won the Golden Lion in Venice in 1998 with the period drama “The Way” which we laughed at” and competed again in Venice with “Lonely Champion” in 2013. Emilio’s recent work includes “The Baths,” a portrait of the late Italian Prime Minister Betino Craxi. recent years in Tunisia.

Emilio is back in Venice with “Lord of the Ants,” a biopic of Italian poet, playwright and director Aldo Braibanti, who was imprisoned in 1968, after a four-year trial over an anti-gay law from the Fascist era. Pic, produced by Simone Gattoni and Marco Bellocchio, stars Luigi Lo Cascio (“The Ties”) as Braibanti, who is convicted after a complaint from his younger partner’s father, who later forced his son to undergo electroconvulsive therapy in a misguided attempt to rid him of his homosexuality. The fascist-era law that punished Praibanti, and which made it a crime to mislead the innocent or the “morally unwary”, was repealed in 1981. Amelio spoke in Venice to diverse About the continuing urgency of this true story in Italy today. excerpts.

What drew you to the topic?

Years ago, I made a documentary, Happy To Be Different, which was a reportage on homosexuality during the outbreak. Then I thought to make a separate document on the Braibanti case because I had personally attended the trial, but I soon realized that there wasn’t enough material. Then I later got a call from Marco Bellocchio asking if I wanted to do a based on Braibanti and I told him I wanted to make a movie on it instead. We met in his office the next day.

What was the main challenge in shaping this novel?

My main concern was to make a popular film that could attract and resonate with a wide audience and not be overly committed to an accurate reconstruction of everything that happened. Having said that, in regards to the trial, I adhered strictly to the court’s texts. Everything the plaintiff says is verbatim. While with some lines Aldo took a little freedom. Rossellini, the father of neorealism, used to say that neorealism was born from fiction. Through imagination you can respect reality and create the scene as well.

In the film there is a secondary character, like you, from the southern region of Calabria, who says that a gay man has two choices: “Either heal yourself or kill yourself.” Is this statement derived from your personal experience?

Yes, that’s the only line in the movie that I heard with my own ears. I was 16, and someone in a group, referring to me, said that phrase.

What do you think of the ideal audience for “Lord of the Ants”?

A primary school teacher in southern Italy is afraid to come out and publicly say he is gay because he fears families will withdraw their children the next day of class. So are the parents of gay children and will have to deal with the day their children dare to go out to them.



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