An interview with the Director of The House that Stood, screening at the 2024 Mosaic World Film Festival.
San Pietro Avellana, southern Italy, 1943. Camillo, a teenager, sees his life being turned upside down when, one day, some retreating German soldiers begin using his family’s inn as a base of operation. Amid a war that seems never-ending, Camillo has much more in mind; and first things first, to ask Bianca, his longtime crush, on a first date. The world seems a little less ugly, even for a moment, until something changes their lives forever.
What drew you to create this film?
Even though I was born and raised in Rome, I spent every single summer of my childhood in San Pietro Avellana, where the film is set. I spent hours, days, weeks in San Pietro listening to my grandparents, who would tell me stories about their time in the war as kids, anecdotes about people they knew, and I learned everything about these people without even having ever met them. Stories about how, although the town wasn’t on the frontline of the war, the poverty was eating it alive. People, however, and especially the kids, found a way to smile through it all. I chose, out of the multitude of stories and anecdotes that were passed on to me, to focus on a revisited version of how my grandparents fell in love during that time, and from that, The House That Stood was born. The goal of the film was not only to honor my family’s story, but to also bring awareness to a little piece of history not known by many people, even in Italy, and to show that every single person’s story is worth telling, no matter how small.
What does filmmaking mean to you?
Filmmaking to me means challenging myself as a director but also telling stories of what I am familiar with. It means making fun things and art with like-minded individuals. It means dig into the soul of the characters I write and bring them to life, make them my own. It means working with actors and picking their brains, learning from them, just as much as I learn from crew and fellow filmmakers in the process.
What advice would you give students or beginners that want to make films?
The biggest advice I always seem to give, based on what I would have liked to hear when I started my journey, is just to make things: not to worry about the budget, or the scope, or what other people are doing, or what would be more in trend, but rather just bite the bullet and make what not only brings them joy, but would make them proud of their work.
What films do you watch again and again?
I love a good classic, but I also have a few comfort films Life is about balance and some of my favorite films are slightly more mentally challenging than others, though they bring me infinite comfort. My all-time favorite film I could watch a thousand times a day is Spirited Away, like any other Miyazaki film. The idea of rewatching a film and discovering new things, even after watching it a million times, is in its own way, more challenging than analyzing an old classic. Some of my other go to films are Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Little Miss Sunshine.
Thank you Antonella!
You can get tickets for the #2024mwff here: https://filmfreeway.com/MosaicWorldFilmFestival/tickets