Guiseppe Tornatore, a world-famous Italian film director, talked about his latest movie "Baaria" and shared his movie-making experience with a local audience at the MOMA Broadway Cinematheque in east Beijing, December 10.

"Baaria," which opened the 66th Venice International Film Festival in September, stars young actor Francesco Scianna and actress Margareth Made, who also showed up in Beijing. About 30 other famous Italian actors, including Monica Bellucci, play cameos in the movie.

Tornatore said that the idea for the movie came in 2006, when he was in Beijing shooting a short film about the Olympic host city. He was glad to be back and show the complete work to a Chinese audience.

Compared with his previous works, Tornatore said "Baaria" is more personal. But it is not so much autobiographic as it is an imaginary story based on his and other people's experiences. The movie is set in Tornatore's birthplace, Sicily, just like many of his famous movies, such as "Cinema Paradiso" and "Malèna." The director said that he cannot help but make stories about Sicily because of his deep love for the place.

Tornatore always writes the screenplays for his movies. He said that it usually takes a long time to conceive a story, as he likes to think about it again and again. He also said that after the story matures in his mind, he then finishes writing the screenplay in a relatively short time. As he has written a lot about Sicily, it is inevitable that some similar scenes appear in different movies, he admitted. The director also revealed that he would shift his focus from Sicily and choose other topics for future movies.

Tornatore has a strong and firm belief in the power of movie music. He stressed that music plays a significant role and is as important as screenplay and acting. He believes that good movie scores can enhance story-telling and engage the audience. He usually thinks about a movie's music prior to shooting. He said that directors and musicians must cooperate very closely during the production process. They should exchange ideas often in order to make the right scores. This is the reason that he has kept a very close and cooperative relationship with musician Ennio Morricone, who has composed music for most of Tornatore's movies, including "Baaria" and "Cinema Paradiso."

Tornatore said that he had a pleasant experience working with Chinese filmmakers in 2006. At his request, he had an all-Chinese film crew and worked to establish rapport with them. He commented that if he has the chance, he would like to work with Chinese filmmakers again.

Tornatore highly praised Chinese cinema. He said that big names such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige are not only well-known among Italian filmmakers, but also the general public. He also hopes for a chance to cooperate with them one day.

Related

• Giuseppe Tornatore will come to China with 'Baaria'

Comments