Ottavia Piccolo tells and tells. Of her professional experiences that have recently seen her protagonist of the film Western Express, presented a month ago at the Cinema Exhibition of the Lido of Venice in the Giornate degli Autori section. Of the documentary A look at Venice, which sees it lead the viewer by the hand to discover the historical, philosophical and existential evolution of Venice and its possible futures. Of that Venezia which for seven years he has chosen as the city to live. We talked about it with her on a warm afternoon in early September at the Lido, not far from the sea and a little out of the glamor of the film festival that in those days animated the spaces between the Palazzo del Cinema and the Hotel Excelsior. Today, his birthday, here is her story, as Ottavia Piccolo wanted to propose it to us. The floor is yours.

Ottavia Piccolo while acting

"Western Express, let's start from here, from the film presented at the Venice Film Festival. It is the story of a true and in some ways known story, there are many stories like this one… Yet each of them has its own uniqueness because it is the narration of a drama. In the film we talk about an Iraqi grandmother who with her granddaughter, a four-year-old girl, embarks on the journey from Mosul to Stockholm to escape the war and the devastation of her city. Following that Balkan route that will be closed after three years (the facts narrated date back to 2015), they set off on their own, making the whole journey mainly on foot ".

Ottavia Piccolo on stage with a group of musicians

In the film, directed by director Simone Marcelli, the Roman actress, accompanied by six musicians, tells about this woman. In his own way, with a certain detachment. She does not play the Iraqi grandmother but tells her story, the tragedy of the departure, the sufferings of the journey, the fears of not being able to arrive. Where is it?

“In the West, in fact, where it is still possible to find salvation. And as the story goes on - explains the actress - from the darkness of departure we pass to the light of hope. Up there in Europe, in the city of Stockholm ”. Occident Express is the original cinematic adaptation of a theatrical show, starring Piccolo herself, which has already seen more than one hundred performances in theaters all over Italy. “Stefano Massini, writer, actor, philosopher, is the author of this play. He who knew the story of this refugee thanks to an almost casual contact, which took place through an acquaintance and a phone call. The story strikes Massimi who decides to make a theatrical text of it. The result is a work that is not only a show but also a denunciation. One of the many… This is confirmed - explains Ottavia Piccolo - by the surprise of the Iraqi woman we are talking about.

Octavia Piccolo in the dim light

When he learned of the Italian writer's interest in his journey of hope, he kept asking him why he wanted to tell his own story. It has nothing different, he said, from thousands of other stories like mine ". “Endless, daily dramas of lives at war, of exterminated families. Of escapes of survivors who, at that cost, climbed (and continue to climb) on this elusive Occident Express. It is not a means of transport as one might think but rather a plan of salvation. A project that on its own wings has managed to bring many to their destination, but which many have also had to abandon on the street ". This is the story narrated by Ottavia Piccolo, by the eight musicians who accompany the narration, by the director Simone Marcelli.

Simone Marcelli is also the author of a docufilm on Venice. Still under construction, it will probably be ready next March. A look at Venice the title (for now still provisional) of the work. Ottavia Piccolo will guide the city in its emblematic places. With a very particular look and perspective. How was this project born?

“I accompanied Simone Marcelli to visit the extraordinary Archive of the Venetian cinema historian Carlo Montanaro. Photos, films, optical, photographic and cinematographic equipment… For Simone this visit was almost a shock. He asked himself a question: how was the image of Venice born? How was it possible that this city found itself (before the Coronavirus) with thirty million visitors a year? Do these tourists come here to have an image of Venice or rather to have an image of them in Venice, the much inflated selfie? This question was the starting point for a journey backwards, discovering the images of Venice from the past, right from the start ".

Ottavia Piccolo during the shooting
Filming of A look at Venice at Caffè Florian

“The landscape painters' works were already a way of selling the lagoon city and advertising it, a first image of Venice to be proposed abroad to entice travelers. Then came the era of the Grand Tours, the Belle Époque, the years of mass tourism. Up to the unreal emptiness of Piazza San Marco in the days of the lockdown and the pandemic. The city of the Serenissima has preserved its beauty intact, but has profoundly changed its essence, to the point of losing it. This work of ours aims to be a calm reflection on the history of the city's change over the centuries and on its future prospects ”.

The docufilm is shooting in Venice but also at the Lido, locations that are now part of the actress's daily life. Why did Ottavia Piccolo choose to live in Venice?

“I came to Venice for the first time 44 years ago for a short vacation with my husband and my son. It was 1976, they had decided to give us two weeks at the Des Bains hotel. That time we went to see Bertolucci's film Novecento at the Venice Film Festival. Then, about twenty years ago, I took a small house for the holidays. Where we spent more and more time ... Seven years ago we decided to settle here permanently. I love Venice and the Lido, where we live near the historic Nicelli airport, a place I like very much ".

Interview with Ottavia Piccolo, from the dramas of Mosul to the future of Venice last edit: 2020-10-09T18:00:00+02:00 da Cristina Campolonghi

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