An interview with EDOARDO VITERBORI, director of “ACQUAMARA”

 

The movie is intentionally realist, me and my co-workers were approaching a subject that needed to be likely and

most of all believable. The story of this fisherman, necessarily needed to have a „realistic background”, truth be

told, the fishermen we see in several scenes are actual fishermen filmed during work and the „fish auction”, that

too was filmed during its day to day routine, the actors were good to immerse themselves in those settings to

become an integral part of the „scenery”. I personally believe that even something fictional has to be likely, this

helps us believe what we are seeing and often it makes us feel for the characters. In my opinion, photography

can add a touch of poetry and not be true to reality.

Philosopher Thomas Hobbes defines “good” as the thing you wish and “evil” as the thing you have an aversion

for. I strongly believe that we all have some aversion deep within ourselves, with Cencio, my main character,

what he wishes is to live a modest life with his significant other, while his aversion is to show to his uncle that he’s

“grown up”. This is one of the reasons he will make mistakes that will go on to irreversibly damage his wishes. In

movies, bad or somewhat bad characters work and keep us at the edge of our seat, because they are like a

“release valve” to evil that society, and rightfully so, tells us to repress. Scorsese’s characters are for me the best

example in contemporary cinema. But Cencio isn’t evil, we can’t deny he does bad things, but I would rather

compare it to Marlon Brando’s character in “Last Tango in Paris”, they both are, albeit for different reasons,

“defeated by life”, so whatever Cencio does bad, he does it with a childlike naivety, believing that whatever he

does won’t have any repercussions on him.

I believe that reading Verga’s novels played a fundamental role in the realization of this project. They are simple

and common stories that find their place in the life of anyone. Certainly, being raised in a seaside city that prides

itself with its port, like Genova, really influenced the fact that this story had “the sea” at its core. Feelings and

sensations are the only thing that makes us remember we are alive, whatever Cencio does, it’s just to awaken his

feelings, to finally have, with the wedding, its happy ending with Brunella.

I recently finished my studies at Roma Film Academy, who is also a co-producer of Acquamara. I hope I’ll be

able to find my space in this industry in the near future. Lastly, I would like to conclude by publicly thanking each

and everyone who worked on this project, every member of the staff, the city of Anzio and most of all Daniele

Shkolnik, who strongly believed in Acquamara.