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5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 AUGUST 2018 THIS WEEK THEATRE its cinematographer Luca Bigazzi eventually took home the award for Best Cinematog- raphy. But for a bit before and quite a bit since, the film – which was MaltaToday's top film of 2017 – would go on to score praise from an international ar- ray of critics, equally beguiled as I was by Grassadonia and Piazza's unique treatment of a story that is adamant to present an alternative to shallow – and often ethically suspect – treat- ments of the mafia-based nar- ratives. Taking its cue from the shocking real-life murder of a young boy, Giuseppe Di Matteo (1981-1996) as retold through a short story by Marco Mancassola, Piazza and Gras- sadonia spin a slowly unfold- ing but deeply affecting tale of innocence mercilessly crushed by the long hand of organised crime, as Giuseppe (Gaetano Fernandez) is punished for his father's betrayal of the Sicilian mafia's code of silence after he agrees to turn state's evidence – thus becoming a 'pentito' in the eyes of his former col- leagues. Giuseppe, however, has a champion in his resilient class- mate Luna (Julia Jedlikowska), who refuses to give in to her community's passive accept- ance of Giuseppe's disappear- ance – butting heads with her arch and unforgiving mother (Sabine Timoteo) in particular – and sets about searching for him on her lonesome attempt when all other avenues prove fruitless. Following a blazingly suc- cessful run in UK cinemas, Si- cilian Ghost Story is currently screening at Eden Cinemas in St Julian's. Speaking to Antonio Piazza over the phone earlier this week, I asked whether he was in any way taken aback by the response to the film in what he deems the "Ango-Saxon" world, as opposed to his native Italy. "The response to the film in Britain and Ireland has been incredible – we just got incred- ible press. We certainly didn't expect all that strong a reac- tion, but we kind of knew that, generally speaking, that region would be more receptive to our mode of filmmaking than the Italian context would be," Piaz- za said, referring to the peculiar generic mix that makes up the Sicilian Ghost Story aesthetic. "In the Anglo-Saxon world, most audiences will have no problem embracing a story that mixes genres, or even one – like ours – that combines a harrow- ing true crime with the hints of the supernatural." Here, I can't help but remind Piazza of a particular social media missive he let out in the wake of some sniffy criticism of the film from Italy; specifically, that it took the Oscar-winning Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro to "remind us that fantasy is also political". In fact, the comparison be- tween Del Toro's earlier Spanish-language films in particular (perhaps less so than the comparatively tender and safe Shape of Water), carries some weight when placed side-by-side with Pi- azza and Grassadonia's film. Just like Del Toro told unflinching stories of the Franco regime as shot through the eyes of children both aided and ob- structed by supernatural forces and creatures, so the two Sicil- ian filmmakers channel a fairy tale and ghost story aesthetic to empower a young protagonist facing the fallout of the rot that underlies her society. "Now, I want to clarify that my dig was not at Italian film- makers – there are some very strong and very fresh voices emerging in the Italian scene at the moment. Actually, I'd hazard to say that we're expe- riencing something of a return to form – we've taken a dip in the 80s and 90s, but the new stuff augurs well. No, what I was getting at has more to do with a type of critical reception that tends to be prevalent in our country. Let's call it post- Marxist. Those kinds of critics will always be suspect of our cinema because they will always expect films to state an explicit social intent. But the amusing thing is that these same critics would praise this mode when someone like Guillermo Del Toro is engaging with it, while they would criticise local film- makers for doing so..." Piazza insists that this is cer- tainly not a direction that he and his filmmaking partner take – something which was also evident in their debut fea- ture film Salvo (2013) which grew out of the short film 'Ri- ta', and which focused on the strange bond that's established between a blind girl and a mafia hitman. It's an approach that, Piazza suggests, cannot find a comfortable fit in either of the two key strands of Italian cin- ema at the moment – neither the mainstream nor the art- house. Because while the for- mer is made up of well-made but largely inoffensive films ("they're not always comedies, but they tend to be most of the time") the latter would be pop- ulated with gritty kitchen sink dramas based on social prob- lems – descendants of Italian neorealism. "Our films are more closely connected to the world of dreams, nightmares... hid- den desires and visions. They beg for a more metaphysical contemplation," Piazza says, while insisting that this space – the mental space that takes in dreams and desires – is also "deeply political". "Our heroine, Luna, chooses love. Despite how everyone around her is sceptical of this, despite the harsh reality that she faces, her love for Giuseppe is what allows her to confront what she's facing." Piazza con- siders this emotional focus to be a "radical act", especially when it's read through the lens of how we're used to seeing ma- fiosi on screen. "What is common to both Sicilian Ghost Story and Sal- vo – and our short film 'Rita', too – is that they're all about an unlikely encounter between two people, one that leads to a radical change in how they view themselves and the world. This is what's important to us." And it is for this reason that the mafiosi we actually see in Sicilian Ghost Story – the thugs that steal Giuseppe away and keep him hostage – are repre- sented as dumb, "banal" figures. "With the fairy-tale milieu of the story, we wanted them to be the trolls – the ogres. Just dumb, uninteresting lugs fol- lowing orders." This was vitally important to the filmmakers, who are both wary and weary of representa- tions of mafia in popular cul- ture. "It all started with a master- piece, of course – Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. But that film is saved by being, pre- cisely, a masterpiece – a story that transcends the mafia mi- lieu to become a Greek trag- edy of sorts. But subsequently, and even to this day, you will see mafiosi being represent- ed as the heroes of the story. You'll find kids quoting the lines of their favourite TV ma- fiosi while playing in the street. Now, we know that the mafia network in Italy is still heavily involved in international drug trafficking, that they practically own large parts of the South of Italy, and that in a lot of ways, they've ensured that the lines between the legal and illegal economy remain completely blurred." For this reason, Piazza adds, being sensitive to how they portray the mafia on screen is a "deep ethical concern". "And this also extends to how their victims are portrayed. Portraying them as entirely pure, martyr-like creatures is also unacceptable." It is an approach that makes a heroine like Luna to be a hu- mane and entirely plausible way into the dark underworld she plunges us into as we fol- low her along, on what seems to be a futile quest to rescue Giuseppe, because nobody else will. Philip Larkin once wrote that "what will survive of us is love", and Luna's brave embrace of what is indeed a radical emo- tive choice reverberates out of Piazza and Grassadonia's po- tent, affecting and thoroughly heartfelt opus. Sicilian Ghost Story will be showing at Eden Cinemas, St Julian's with two shows a day until the end of August Award-winning Sicilian filmmakers Antonio Piazza (left) and Fabio Grassadonia Grassadonia and Piazza accepting the Donatello award for Best Adapted Screenplay last January