Last night I was lucky enough to be in the second row of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater in New York for a screening of Ferzan Ozpetek’s Magnifica Presenza, Magnificent Presence. Ferzan Ozpetek was there and took questions with an interpreter after the show.
Since the moderator seemed to frown on questions from the audience that were more comment than question, I waited until after the Q&A to approach Ferzan and, tell him “in boca al lupo” (good luck) for the Nasto d’Argento awards. Magnifica Presenza has been nominated for 9 awards.
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema is an amazing Italian Film Festival, held every year at Lincoln Center. The collection of films is outstanding and many of the directors and actors attend, but I have to say it; from what I’ve seen so far, it seems poorly organized.
And while I won’t get into the list of petty complaints right now, I will say that after having advertised that Elio Germano would be at the screening, there should have been some explanation about why he was not. Ferzan Ozpetek was there, though, and he was worth the price of admission ten-fold.
Magnifica Presenza is now my favorite movie from Ozpetek (my review is in the works). It’s funny, sweet, and thought provoking, all at once; an achievement that has been underestimated. This is a movie that could be easily exported; it’s entertaining in any language.
Though a few of the questions in the Q&A were confusing (one woman seemed to be under the impression that the ghosts in the movie were real), Ferzan talked about his inspiration for making a movie about the supernatural. He told the audience that he’d been influenced by the movie “The Others”, and that he’d always wanted to find ghosts in his house. He said that he’d always liked thinking that people who have died are really still with us. In Ferzan’s opinion, some of us are more open to the idea of seeing ghosts and are able to have the experience that Elio Germano’s character had in the film.
He said that he doesn’t hold auditions for his movies, and that he just likes working with actors that he knows and respects. (This explains the funny cameo in Magnifica Presenza by real life director Daniele Luchetti.)
I have 3 movies today; Il Mio Domani, Io Sono Li, and Scialla!, but it’s hard to imagine anything topping Magnifica Presenza with Ferzan Ozpetek.
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I Love Italian Everything 