Maurizio De Giovanni at SWFF15: “Writing is the origin of every story”

As part of the fifteenth edition of the Social World Film Festival, the International Exhibition of Social Cinema that takes place in the splendid setting of Vico Equense, from Monday 23 June to Saturday 28 June, Maurizio De Giovanni was a guest of the film festival.

Writer, screenwriter, playwright and television author of Neapolitan origin, De Giovanni offered the public a profound reflection on the role of social cinema, the value of writing and the complexity of serial narration..

«This is the most exciting place in the world, it's breathtaking – the writer stated – and it is no coincidence that it has maintained its fame and image for thousands of years. The festival is one of the symbols of this place, it is indispensable. Talking about stories in a place that has inspired so many is congenial».

According to De Giovanni, social cinema is recognized in the ability to tell reality in an authentic and touching way. «The film Forrest Gump, for me, is synonymous with social cinema – has explained – because it tells the story of a man who, unknowingly, takes steps forward. Behind the satire, there is a very profound message. Every form of narration can bring to light a concrete case that remains imprinted in the collective memory.»

From Page to Screen: The Challenge of Adaptation

Author of famous literary series such as Commissioner Ricciardi e The bastards of Pizzofalcone, Maurizio De Giovanni talked about the challenges of adapting a novel to a screenplay, discussing in detail the methodologies and technical steps that are carried out during such translations.

A passage that implies a transformation of the narrative language and a change of perspective. «We must have two basic principles – stressed – The first is sharing: unlike the novel, where creativity is individual, the screenplay requires collective creativity. The author must take a step back, recognizing the legitimacy of other people's ideas.

Co-construction is everything – and continued – In the novel I can use the implied subject, allow myself reflective parts. In the screenplay everything must be visual. The feelings must emerge from the posture, from the gestures, from what is seen. The writing loses something, but gains something else».

The author then addressed the issue of seriality and how it influences – or not – the creation of his characters.. «My approach is not to think of characters as serial. Life is serial, but no one can know what will really happen. Characters are bets: they can become serial only if we imagine them with a past and a future, never as concluded entities, just as life itself is never concluded».

The centrality of writing within a narrative

The thoughts expressed reflect his conception of narration as a living process, in progress, capable of evolving together with the writer and the reader. An artistic product, for From Giovanni, always arises from a plurality of gazes: only in this way can it guide the public towards new universes of meaning. The genesis and engine of everything, for De Giovanni, remains writing.

«A story is a story – he said with emotion – The invention of a story is always at the basis of every artistic form: novel, song, audiovisual. Everything can be a consequence of the primordial gesture of writing». Writing is, according to the author, the first creative act, a basis that can be expressed in many different ways, the seed from which all subsequent artistic expressions sprout..

"Writing is the discovery of a story, it is the node from which artistic evolutions branch out. The subsequent versions are nothing but mediations and consequences of that first gesture." In closing, he wanted to pay homage to the Neapolitan artists who contributed to his education and who represent, in his opinion, a continuous and vibrant cultural line..

«We Neapolitans boast an extraordinary artistic tradition. From Giambattista Basile onwards, we have never had moments of emptiness. I believe that there is no place with a creative continuity equal to ours – and concluded – I can mention playwrights, novelists, composers and musical authors, such as Annibale Ruccello, Raffaele Viviani, Enzo Moscato, Mimmo Borrelli, Domenico Rea, Raffaele La Capria, Prisco De Vivo and Luciano De Crescenzo».

 Emanuela Francini

(the cover photo is by Marianna Desiderio)