“I lost at the Oscars because I was left alone” – Corriere.it

“We were left alone.” For the way he defended himself, Matteo Garrone deserves a statue and not a statuette. The captain’s mutiny against the “system”. The defeat of I
O captain At the Oscars it weighs on him, it burns him. Garrone is a former tennis player, “I’m competitive.” And a week after the night in Hollywood, the director for the first time cheers on the failure of his Homeric fairy tale.

Welcome to the Bif&st with five minutes of applause (“The best reception of my career”), to the presenter who is watching the battle with those in power The zone of interest by Jonathan Glazer was unequal, he doesn’t answer at all: “A win would have been possible.” The Oscar is won months in advance, with a great advertising campaign and a major international distribution partner who invests in you and tells you what to do. “

Matteo speaks and doesn’t stop: “Have more.” To achieve visibility, you need to compete in all categories (not just Best International Film) where there are 10,000 votes, not a thousand. Unfortunately I didn’t find out until later. I would have had a better chance. It’s a race where not everyone starts from the same position, it depends on who you have behind you. The most difficult thing is to get the film known: if I managed to get into the top five without anyone, it means that the film is impressive, every time we have shown it abroad this has been the case Standing ovation the public. The regret is there. But many festivals and distributors rejected it. Rai Cinema CEO Paolo Del Brocco mentions these festivals (excluding Cannes): “Toronto, New York, London, Telluride. Many important distributors were afraid of the topic.”

The drama of the migrants. Garrone: “I humanized myself those victims who are not numbers. The reality is even harsher than what I have told, but there is a risk that it will be wrong. It is a culture that is not mine, I put myself at the service of its stories. It’s like the two guys co-directed the film with me. After being rejected at the audition due to his tardiness, Seydou returned to the casting having forgotten his house keys, a strong symbolic element. But politics? “I had no reaction, positive or negative. I tried not to fall into any kind of exploitation. In Brussels everyone rose up, only to pass even tougher laws against migrants two months later. However, Pope Francis supported us.” His “captain”, forced to improvise at the helm of the Barcherola, “was actually sentenced to six months in prison, today he would be serving ten years.” It is still a dark side. There are many captains in prison.”

Del Brocco says Garrone “didn’t do it.” A criticism of us, but also of the strong American distributors who did not accept this. Much more money was needed. An advertising campaign for the Oscars costs 10 million. Rai Cinema was able to bring in one and a half million.

Registration for all categories costs $6,000, and because we didn’t do it… “We didn’t know the mechanism, which is complex, we didn’t know that we could include it in all the categories.” But it is not the first time that Italy has included a film in the top 5 of the Oscars has. “The lack of an important US distributor led us into error.” Among the ten thousand voters were 80 Italians and 900 English who supported Jonathan Glazer’s British film.

After the bitterness is overcome, Matteo’s smile returns. In Bari he received two prizes, “Fellini” and “Monicellii”. “I risk breaking my head.”

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