Neapolitan, born in 2001, the actor and musician Francesco Panarella was the first guest of the fifteenth edition of the Social World Film Festival, a film festival dedicated to social cinema held in the spaces of the city of Vico Equense.
Panarella, in concert with the director and artistic director of Giuseppe Alessio Nuzzo, talked about his experience on the set of the film Interference, directed by Nuzzo. The project is part of a cross-media work produced in collaboration with Rai: there will be a short film, a podcast, virtual reality content, and it will be available on Rai Cinema Channel and RaiPlay.
It is set in a future where, precisely because of the addiction to social media, the extreme idea of identity surgery arrives. “My character is a boy who lives with a serious mental disorder: he suffers from deep depression – he explained – He is a young man who has completely lost the meaning of life, he can no longer find one.
His existence has become flat, dull. He doesn’t get up because he wants to, but because he has to. He doesn’t take care of himself, he doesn’t leave the house anymore. His only contact with the outside world is social media – and even there, however, he finds only hostility, insults, humiliation.
At the beginning of the film, the audience witnesses these “live” events that he does online, apparently to express himself, but which in reality become another field of pain. What was supposed to be a relief valve turns into a new form of violence, even more subtle. This character reaches a point where he wants something extreme: to change his personality. Just as today we change our face with cosmetic surgery, he would like to do a real “identity surgery”.
It's a powerful idea, which the film explores by projecting us into a very near future, where this possibility no longer seems so science fiction." An audiovisual project that leaves the Neapolitan actor to reflect on the problems that contemporary times inflict, also reasoning on the approach to social networks.
“And this is where the heart of the project comes from: a deep reflection on how much social media influences our lives. They can include or exclude, make us feel part of it or completely out of it.
Personally, I think social media has a negative influence on me. I try to use them consciously, in a “clean” way, but I often fall into their trap – like everyone else. It has happened to me many times to just want to take a ten-minute break, scroll a bit and then… realize that two hours have passed.
Two hours in which I could have watched a movie, gone out, breathed. Instead I only absorbed content – often negative: insults, violence, superficiality. But even positive content generates another distortion: the continuous comparison with others. We see perfect lives and end up feeling always inadequate. This mechanism is devastating.
Comparison with constructed and idealized images reduces our self-esteem, makes us feel tired, empty. And paradoxically, spending hours on social media is really tiring. Social media are also lowering our attention span. We now struggle to read a whole page of a book without getting distracted. We struggle to watch a movie in one go.
There are those who watch a three-hour film in twenty minutes a day, for a month. And so, the narration, the work itself, is completely lost. This is a theme that touches me very closely. I am trying to react: read more, watch films from beginning to end, play music. In a certain sense, take back my time, take back my concentration.
And this is precisely one of the messages I wanted to convey with my work: awareness of time, of the mind, of our relationship with reality."
Very intense and generous statements that reveal the most authentic thoughts and social messages of Francesco Panarella, who during the masterclasses with students reiterated the importance of taking care of oneself, of one's mental health, of accepting one's difficulties and of reacting reactively to intervene on problems and find the right tools to deal with them. "When you begin to understand how to improve your interiority, the outside world will begin to smile and bring what you have longed for."
The relationship with acting
Francesco Panarella, during the masterclass, revealed how his love for acting was born, referring to one of his idols. “The moment I realized that I really wanted to do this job was when I saw Johnny Depp go to hospitals, dressed as a character, to make children smile.
There I understood that even making comical gestures in front of the camera can do good. That's when I decided to really take this path. I chose to use the little fame I have to make those who feel the way I felt feel less alone.
As a child I was bullied in every possible way: for my hair, my body, my way of speaking. Growing up like this leaves its mark. And for this very reason, hearing Johnny Depp honestly tell me that he is a shy, fragile, introverted person, made me feel less alone.
When I watched one of his films, for those two and a half hours everything disappeared. Only his characters, the stories, that magic existed. And I thought: if he went through difficult times like mine, and he made it, then maybe there is hope for me too. My dream is to be able to do the same thing for someone else.
Even just for five, six, ten people. If I can make someone feel less alone, then for me it is a huge victory – and he continued his argument – In addition to this, I fell in love with the profession from the first day on set. The first time I was an extra – it was in a film by Vincenzo Salemme – I did it for fun, out of curiosity.
But when I arrived on the set it was love at first sight: the confusion, the screams, the races with water, the director calling everyone… It seemed like a circus for madmen! At that exact moment I realized I wanted to be part of that world”.
Sharp motivations, full of sensitivity and emotion that suggest how much empathy is needed to put yourself in someone else's shoes and, above all, how turning one's life into an art form can be a revenge and a way to lift up those who have experienced the same unpleasant life situations.
Acting, which had such an impact on his life path, left him with precious lessons: “The most important lesson that acting has given me, especially in a dark moment like this in my life, is patience.
I have never been a patient person but this job forces you to be: you do a thousand auditions, you spend months waiting for answers that never come, you come across rejections, silences. And you have to learn to stop, breathe, not take everything personally.
The second lesson is about respect, because you have to be fair to people in all departments of the set. We are all essential, from the director to the cleaning lady. I greet them all in the same way, I chat with everyone, and I think this is essential to work well.
The third lesson, perhaps more practical but no less important: in life you pay taxes. It seems trivial, but in school no one teaches you how to get a loan, how to buy something, how to manage money. I learned it thanks to work: buying a motorbike, paying taxes, colliding with reality.
It’s a less poetic part of the job, but it’s part of adult life. And then there’s the revealing and fundamental lesson: this is a job that can save lives. It can save those who do it – as happened to me – and those who watch it.
Because seeing yourself reflected in a story, in a character, can change the way you experience your pain, can help you breathe when you feel suffocated. And if even just one viewer, once they leave a theater or finish an episode, feels a little stronger, then all this makes sense”.
The relationship with music and art
Panarella is also a music fan, having studied at the Conservatory. For this reason, he explained what role music plays in his life, what his preferences are and how he connects this passion to that for cinema and literature: “Musically speaking, I am definitely a fan of Avenged Sevenfold, who are my favorite band ever.
Their drummer, Jimmy Sullivan – who sadly is no longer with us – was one of my biggest inspirations. Last year I also had the honor of meeting them, and it was an incredible experience. As a child I was passionate about Geronimo Stilton books, then I moved on to fantasy, and as I grew up I landed on detective stories, thrillers and horror.
As for movies, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton movies have been fundamental for me. But I actually love every genre: for example, I'm very passionate about action movies. I went to see the latest Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise, and just yesterday I went to the preview of the Formula 1 movie with Brad Pitt. Beautiful.
In general, I would say that art is something that always accompanies me”. Precisely in reference to what are the tastes of the consumer, he projects himself towards professional desires for the future: “I would really like to play a fantasy character, very particular, even with strange make-up.
My secret dream is to make a film with Tim Burton. It's something I wanted even before I thought about being an actor. He creates worlds that are wonderful to me, and the idea of being able to inhabit them, even just for a little while, is wonderful. I also saw the exhibition dedicated to his work, with drawings and references to characters created with Johnny Depp. It moved me”.
The experience on the set of Mare Fuori
Francesco Panarella, in the acclaimed Rai series, Mare Fuori, starting from the third season has lent his face to the character of Cucciolo, an inmate of the IPM of Naples. He told the backstage of the set, how he articulated the work of building the character in synergy with the director: "The character had different phases. At the beginning there was a phase of discovery, I was getting to know him.
Then, as it happens in real life, my approach evolved and the character changed. Working with Ludovico Di Martino was really special. In the fifth season we created a beautiful harmony, almost musical. Ludovico is a “rock and roll” director, he gave me great creative freedom, but at the same time he was a solid point of reference, a guide.
This approach is, in my opinion, fundamental in a director. I felt free, and for me it was a liberating job”. He began to close by recalling the most significant, exciting and fun moments on set: “There are so many fun moments. With Giuseppe Pirozzi every conversation in the dressing room becomes a comical moment. But also shooting at night, then eating all together at three in the morning looking at the sea. They are magical moments, which I will carry with me forever.
In general, however, each season has brought with it moments of increasing emotional charge, because the character of Cucciolo finds himself increasingly involved in complex and dramatic situations - and he concluded - This inevitably leads you to deal with many strong emotions. And that's exactly what makes this job so beautiful ".
Emanuela Francini
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Comments (1)
The article talks about an actor and how social media affects people's lives. I think it's important to think about these topics, especially in this period. Mental health is fundamental, but it's not always talked about enough. It's a delicate topic.