Skip to main content

A New Documentary on the Life of Flavio Bucci

It premiered at the 2018 edition of the Rome Film Festival and will be shown next in Matera on February 28. The documentary film, Flavioh, is a labor of love by a group of filmmakers paying homage to one of their idols, Flavio Bucci.

Bucci rose to fame in the 1970s in cult classics like Dario Argento's Suspiria and the biographical film, Ligabue, in which he took on the title role as the eccentric painter Antonio Ligabue. Bucci acted steadily through the 80s and 90s in television and film, working on projects of all budgets, including contemporary blockbusters like Paolo Virzì's Caterina va in città and Paolo Sorrentino's Il Divo.

Flavioh was executive produced by Marco Caldoro and directed by the recently deceased Neapolitan filmmaker Riccardo Zinna. The film was Zinna's last project, and to watch him in scenes with Bucci is deeply moving. The film is essentially a road trip with stops in significant periods of Bucci's life and career. The adventure begins in Matera as shooting wraps up on The Gospel According to St. Matthews by Antonio Andrisani and Pascal Zullino. There are many tender moments throughout the journey and although the film is filled with nostalgia, Bucci and his cohorts contrast the sentimentality with humor and irony.

One poignant encounter is with veteran film producer Claudio Mancini, who worked on the films of Elio Petri and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America. The two old friends are so happy to see each other, the scene brought tears to my eyes.There is so much sincerity in this film and that is due to Bucci's genuine character, an acclaimed actor who never set out to enjoy the luxuries of fame. He only wanted to work and to immerse himself in the worlds of his characters.

I met the crew in Matera at the very beginning of filming back in 2015, so it was a joy to see the finished product. I spoke with Caldoro about the making of the film, his discoveries about Bucci and how their origins in the region of Molise led to the project.


Tell me about your adventure in making this documentary.
Flavio Bucci's paternal origins are in Casacalenda, a small town in the region of Molise. In 2014, the University of Molise approached me about organizing an event in which Bucci would receive a lifetime achievement award because he's always acknowledged his Molise roots and attributed much of his success as an actor to his origins there. The event served as an occasion for me to propose that he direct me in his play, "Diary of a Madman". Over the course of the production, he told me about his life that was dominated by alcohol and drugs, "the elephant at home" as he calls them. And he never stopped telling anecdotes of the great ones with whom he had worked: (Mario) Monicelli, (Elio) Petri, (Gian Maria) Volonté, (Ugo) Tognazzi, (Vittorio) Gassman, (Gigi) Proietti, (Nanni) Moretti, and others. 

Riccardo Zinna
How did you come to collaborate with Riccardo Zinna?
Riccardo came up with the idea of ​​telling the life story of this great actor while he's still alive, telling the story with him and with his voice, to himself and to the people he loved once or even now or with the writers who created the characters that he became- sewn onto his face, given his voice, made of his movements, seen through his eyes. And to do so, he decided that it was necessary to set up a camper that would take the entire entourage through Italy and Europe. Flavio Bucci, with those people, could tell the personal and artistic life of this genius. What an incredible idea.

Tell me about Flavio Bucci.
One of the most beautiful things about Flavio is his simplicity. Perhaps one thing that I've always liked about him, and certainly has also attracted Riccardo, was precisely his way of dealing with his work, without ever being snobby. He's always treated people with great respect. It's a common trait of the simple people of Molise and this trait also linked Riccardo to my land.

Was there something particularly interesting about him that you learned while making the film?
Each and every one of Flavio's stories is a lesson. To hear him talk about people like Petri, Volontè and Tognazzi as true friends gave us great pride, knowing that Riccardo was collecting all of his anecdotes and stories for this film.

Marco Caldoro presenting the film during the Rome Film Festival
Marco Caldoro will present Flavioh in Matera with Flavio Bucci and cast member Pascal Zullino. The screening will take place at the Piccolo Cinema on February 28 at 7:30 pm. Admission is free of charge. For more information about the film, visit the website at https://www.flavioh.com.

- Jeannine Guilyard

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Conversation with Actor Mirko Frezza of David di Donatello Winner "Il più grande sogno"

The 2017 David di Donatello award show, which took place on Monday, was an exciting event that celebrated many great contemporary talents of Italian cinema.  I was fortunate to have seen most of the nominees.  Among my personal favorites  is Michele Vannucci's  Il più grande sogno  simply because it is based on one of the most inspiring, beautiful stories I've ever  heard, and the person behind that story is as authentic and down-to-earth as they come. The film won the 3 Future Award, which is determined by the public. With Director Michele Vannucci and Actor Mirko Frezza I first saw  Il più grande sogno last September when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. I didn't make it to Venice, but thanks to a great online platform called Festival Scope , which offers a handful of premieres to be screened on the web, I felt like I was there. The film itself blew me away, and then when I realized it was based on a true story, I knew t...

The Timeless Talent of Stefania Sandrelli

On screen since the tender age of 14, she has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with a compelling combination of strength and vulnerability. She achieved stardom at just 14 years old playing the angelic cousin of a love-struck Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style.” More than half a century later, she is still going strong and remains one of Italy’s most esteemed actors. Stefania Sandrelli was born on June 5, 1946, in Viareggio in the province of Lucca in northern Italy. As a child, she studied music and dance. Then in 1960, she won a beauty pageant and was featured on the cover of Le Ore magazine. Her purity captivated the country and shortly thereafter, movie offers began pouring in. Just one year later, she made her cinema debut in three feature films: Mario Sequi’s Gioventù di notte , Luciano Salce’s The Fascist, and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style . She instantly became a star and before long was a key figure in Italy’s legend...

Film at Lincoln Center honors Monica Vitti with retrospective featuring restored classics

Photo Courtesy of Archivio Luce-Cinecitt à A retrospective dedicated to the films of Italian cinema icon Monica Vitti will be held from June 6 to June 19 at Lincoln Center in New York City.  The 14-film series, titled "Monica Vitti: La Modernista," is presented by Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà and marks the first North American retrospective celebrating Vitti's 35-year career. "We are pleased to partner with Cinecittà to celebrate one of Italy's most revered actresses," said Film at Lincoln Center Vice President of Programming Florence Almozini. "It is a privilege to present decades' worth of films from Monica Vitti's illustrious and prolific career, especially with many restored versions of her legendary works." Monica Vitti, a key figure in film history, began her career in the mid-1950s and quickly became a captivating presence on screen. Her collaboration with director Michelangelo Antonioni produced memorable films in the 196...

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...

Golden Age Masterpiece: Luchino Visconti’s 1957 “White Nights”

Photo Credit: Archivio Luce Cinecittà Luchino Visconti’s 1957 film, “White Nights” (“Le notti bianche”), offers a thoughtful and poignant exploration of themes such as loneliness, desire and emotional vulnerability. Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella of the same name, it transports the tale from 19th-century St. Petersburg to a dreamy mid-20th-century Italian setting. While Visconti remains largely faithful to Dostoevsky’s narrative, his characteristic style infuses the film with emotional depth, striking visuals, and a focus on class and societal constraints.   The story follows a young man named Matteo, played by Marcello Mastroianni, who lives a solitary life in a small Italian town. One evening, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Natalia, portrayed by Austrian-Swiss actress Maria Schell, who is also feeling isolated. Although she is initially reluctant, Natalia eventually confides in Matteo about her love for a man who has promised to return and marry her, but he ha...