She was born into a family of filmmakers, grew up in the
paradise of the Mediterranean and could have been a movie star. Instead, she
chose to make meaningful documentaries on social issues, human rights and the
legacy of cinema. If that wasn’t enough, she started a film festival in that
paradise to give voice to other filmmakers, journalists and activists who share
her vision.
Giovanna Taviani is the
daughter of the legendary director, Vittorio Taviani and niece of Paolo
Taviani, who are known as the filmmaking duo, the Taviani Brothers. Born in 1969,
she had an early interest in literature and cinema, and today is considered a scholar
of those subjects, having authored several essays. Among the topics of those
essays were novelist Luigi Pirandello, the films of neorealism and the cinema
of Luchino Visconti. When she was a teenager, she had a role in her father's
1984 film, Kaos but instead of pursuing acting as a career, opted
for a life behind the camera as a director.
Through her work, Taviani explores
the assimilation of immigrants and other relevant social issues. Her films have
echoes of the great master of documentary filmmaking, Palermo-born Vittorio De
Seta, who told stories of Sicily and its neighboring islands. On one hand, her
work is raw like De Seta’s, giving it a neorealistic ambiance. On the other hand,
the dramatic music scores composed by her brother Giuliano Taviani give them a
fictional, Hollywood feel. Giuliano is an accomplished composer whose music has
graced the films of Ferzan Ozpetek, Massimiliano Bruno, Francesco Munzi and of
course, the Taviani Brothers. The Taviani offspring have followed their own
paths but they occasionally come together with the patriarchs of the family to
create important works.
One of those works is Giovanna
Taviani’s Il Riscatto, which was inspired by a character in the Taviani
Brothers’ documentary film, Caesar Must Die. That character Salvatore Striano took part in the Rebibbia Prison’s Shakespeare program while he
was incarcerated. Upon his release, he began acting professionally and today is
one of Italy’s leading men. Giovanna Taviani documented his plight in turning
his life around and educating youngsters on the importance of culture,
Shakespeare in particular, in order to avoid a life of crime.
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| Il Riscatto |
In her film, Ritorni, (Returns), Taviani documents the return of immigrants to their homeland of Maghreb, a region of western North Africa. The
shooting took place during the sweltering summer holidays and radiates the heat
of Africa, which can be interpreted as a metaphor for the blood, sweat and
tears the immigrants shed in leaving their places of origin. The film offers different
points-of-view of the significance of these homecomings, which in a sense are
voyages in the opposite direction in comparison to the dangerous route that
thousands of refugees make each year from the African coasts.
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| Ritorni |
Her 2010 documentary, Fughe e approdi (Return to the Aeolian Islands), showcases the splendor of
her stomping grounds where iconic cinema was created. Taviani visits the movie locations
of several generations of Italian filmmakers, including Rossellini (Stromboli),
Antonioni (L’Avventura) and the Taviani Brothers (Kaos). Revisiting these
locations was clearly an emotional experience for Taviani as she recounts her
memories of growing up there as well as the experiences of other filmmakers
making their own masterpieces on these islands.
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