Actor Nando Irene - Basilicata Born and Bred

If you were only to know Nando Irene on social media, you would come to know the three leading forces in his life- his family, his land and his work. He comes from the southern region of Basilicata. Born in Matera, he was raised in the nearby town of Salandra, a beautiful landscape bordered by the region’s signature calanchi mountains and olive groves as far as the eye can see. When he talks about Basilicata, he recounts the past when it was referred to as Italy’s shame and how it has grown through the years to become a major tourist attraction and film set for countless movies including Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and more recently Ben Hur and Wonder Woman.

Irene approaches his craft with the same passion and enthusiasm he has for his land. When he decided to pursue acting as a career, he picked up and moved to Rome. He stayed for nine years, taking numerous courses and making contacts in the industry. It was during those years that he landed his first jobs in cinema and television: Fabrizio Cattani’s 2004 Il Rabdomante, the story of a Pugliese peasant who fights a land owner for the right to water, and the 2005 Mediaset fiction series, Il giudice Mastrangelo. Longing for his adored Lucania, he returned home in 2009 and continued acting in the three mediums: theater, television and cinema. Since so much cinema is made in Basilicata, he has appeared in numerous films, many of which have been shown at film festivals throughout the world. Among them is the short film Giallo in which Irene stars alongside fellow Materese actor Enzo Saponara. The film offers 20-minutes of full-immersion into the mystic world of Matera’s culture and land. Set mostly in the infamous ghost town of Craco, the film consists of a simple story: a man trying to help his younger brother come out of a depression. It is a story interpreted by two fine actors amid breathtaking views of vast mountain ranges seen from an ancient uninhabited city.

A scene from Giallo

In addition to Irene’s prolific acting career, he has turned his passion for his land into a parallel career as a restaurateur. Vicolo Cieco Salsamenteria is a hip restaurant/bar located in Matera’s ancient center, which specializes in locally cultivated products and wine. The restaurant is decorated in 1950s style Americana with retro couches and kitchen sets along with a jukebox that plays classic American hits from the 50s and 60s. That's where I met him for a great conversation about his work and his beloved region of Basilicata. In addressing the cinema that was made in the region decades ago, in particular Francesco Rosi’s 1960 Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (Christ Stopped at Eboli), Irene address the stigma left on the region by those accounts of such desperate times.

"About Carlo Levi.. I remember this beautiful film with Gian Maria Volontè who per me is a great example of an actor and someone that I want to emulate, although I can't imagine every being as great as him. Christ Stopped at Eboli.. My subtitle would be "meno male." It's a good thing Christ stopped at Eboli because up to Eboli, the factories are disappearing, there is no work, there is Camorra (mafia) that is polluting the land. But once you pass into Basilicata, it's like a happy island. We are few inhabitants.. maybe 100,000. We can go skiing in the mountains, we can go to the sea. On one side of the region, there is white sand and on the other side in Maratea there is the gorgeous rocca frasgliata (jagged rock formations) along the coastline. In the winter, you can go to Pollino to ski. We have the desert where they've also shot Westerns. You can do anything here. We are the heart of southern Italy. It was abandoned for many years, and now it's being reborn as a land to explore and discover, a land of nature, of good food and clean air. So, come to Basilicata!"

Gian Maria Volonté in Cristo si è fermato a Eboli

Irene’s next cinema project is currently in pre-production. Directed by fellow lucano Nicola Telesca, Rumore is a love story set in the shadow of the sensitive environmental situation concerning the petroleum extractions in Basilicata. The film will feature a cast of Italy’s great contemporary actors, including Antonio Andrisani, Antonio Gerardi, Valeria Solarino and Pascal Zullino.

Click here to watch the short film Giallo on Vimeo. For more information on Vicolo Cieco Salsamenteria, follow the restaurant’s page on Facebook and click here to follow Nando Irene on Facebook.

-Jeannine Guilyard

Comments

The Sweetness and Genius of Giulietta Masina

Fellini and Masina on the set of "La Strada" As open-hearted and sunny as Federico Fellini was dark and complex, they were perfect counterpoints during a half-century of marriage and professional collaboration. Nicknamed a “female Chaplin” and described by Chaplin himself as the actress who moved him most, Giulietta Masina confronted the tragedy of her characters with an eternal innocence and enthusiasm that gave Italians hope in the most challenging of times. Born in 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La...

Ornella Muti: Five decades of Acting and Still Going Strong

Ornella Muti was born Francesca Romana Rivelli in Rome in 1955 to a Neapolitan father and an Estonian mother. She began her career as a model during her teenage years and made her film debut in 1970 with “La Moglie più bella” (The Most Beautiful Wife). Her follow-up role was in the 1971 film, “Sole nella pelle” (Sun on the Skin), in which she played the daughter of wealthy parents who runs off with a hippie they don’t approve of. The film offers a telling journey through Italian society in the seventies, with its political climate, breathtaking seaside, and the styles and cars of that time. Much of the film is set amid the sunny Italian seaside and captures the innocence and beauty of first love. Muti made her American film debut in 1980 with "Flash Gordon." She played the role of Princess Aura. She’s appeared in two other American films, including “Oscar,” directed by John Landis and starring Don Ameche, Chazz Palminteri, and Sylvester Stallone. In 1992, she w...

Federico Fellini: A Look into the Life and Career of an Icon

A Fellini family portrait “The term became a common word to describe something on the surface you can say is bizarre or strange, but actually is really like a painter working on a film,” said Martin Scorsese when asked to define “Felliniesque,” an adjective inspired by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The oldest of three children, Federico Fellini was born in the seaside town of Rimini in 1920. His father was a traveling salesman, so his mother was left to do the bulk of raising the children. One can argue that Fellini was born for his destiny. “You could tell that even as a child, he was different and unique. He was very intelligent, well above average. He was always the one to organize things, direct the others, make up games. He could control the other kids with just a look, said Fellini’s sister, Maddalena, in an interview with journalist Gideon Bachmann. Not only was Fellini directing the children, but he was also putting on shows and charging ...

A Conversation with Documentary Filmmaker Luigi Di Gianni

His documentary films have given voice to a people who would have otherwise been forgotten while preserving rituals and traditions no longer practiced. Visually stunning and emotionally moving, they reflect an Italy we’re not used to seeing in cinema. Born in Naples in 1926, Luigi Di Gianni captured a dimension of Italy that people outside the South didn’t even know existed. He began his career working in the region of Basilicata, which back then was referred to as Lucania. He first visited the region with his parents when he was a boy. His father, being from the Lucanian village of Pescopagano, wanted to show his son his homeland. That trip made an impression on the 9-year-old and created a deep affection that would one day inspire him to return. “I always remained very emotional about returning to this part of my homeland of Lucania,” he says. “It seemed like a different planet compared to Rome, where I lived. The tiring journey, the unpaved roads, the difficulti...

The Life and Work of Monica Bellucci

Monica Bellucci as Malèna Born in Umbria in 1964, Monica Bellucci is one of the most recognizable faces of international cinema. But she didn't always have her sights set on the spotlight. She went to college to study law and modeled to pay her tuition. Her success in the fashion world coupled with the offers that were pouring in to appear on the big screen eventually took over, changing her fate. Bellucci made her on-screen debut in the 1990 television movie, " Vita coi figli." Just two years later, she scored her first American role in Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula." In addition to her native language, she speaks fluent English and French, which has made for a smooth transition from Italian to international cinema. Stateside, she has acted in blockbusters such as "The Matrix-Reloaded," " The Passion of the Christ" and " The Sorcerer's Apprentice." She has also appeared in several French films, a...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog