Michele Innocenti, Fipili Horror Festival Livorno

0:13Hello and welcome to this special episode of the Monaco Weekly. I'm Fernando Augusto Pacheco, and for today's show I speak with the artistic advisor of the FIPELI Horror Festival in Livorno, Michele Innocenti. The festival became a mainstay of the region, celebrating the best of horror. Michele tells me more.

0:37Before we talk about the festival this year, which is in its 12th edition, Michele, tell us about your relationship with horror. I mean, talking to you here, I can see that you have so many DVDs and I have a feeling quite a few of them are horror. Yeah, many of them actually are horror. Also because nowadays movie collecting is a lot about boutique labels. They are so called. And many of them focus on old movies because, you know, people like me growing up loved a lot of movies from the 80s, from the 90s. And nowadays we are the people that buy mostly Blu-rays, 4K Blu-rays and DVDs. And so this kind of titles are a large part of the market worldwide.

1:17So many of these films that you can see are horrors. Horror, in my opinion, is not only my opinion, generally speaking, is one of the most popular genre between movie-going people because it can be two very different but still entertaining and engaging things. It can be very scary and so it can make you feel anxiety, it makes you feel frightening. but if it's good when it's bad it makes you laugh so in any case you get something out of it I love the description absolutely it's a genre that talks sometimes also to the brain of the people but generally speaking to their belly so their reaction is very instinctive is very primordial somehow and that's why I think it's one of the genres that pretty much never dies even if it goes through different cycles of his existence.

2:10I mean, I look at the box office. I mean, it's always a sure bet that horror film will do well. But it's very cool that we have a festival like yours of Livorno because, of course, people can see Saw, The Exorcist everywhere. But I think there's some horror films that they need a place to be shown. Perhaps they're not very well known. It's hard distribution these days as well for films. So tell us a bit more about the lineup and the type of horror that you have at the festival. Yeah, horror needs to be sold somehow to the audience, especially if it's not part of brands that people already know.

2:46Just thinking about, you were talking about box office. Horror is a very fortunate and lucky genre at the box office because usually horror means low budgets. That's why in the last two, three years after the pandemic, it's one of the few genres that didn't suffer from less people going to the movie theaters. because they are pretty much cheap movies. And since horror can be very cheap, it's also one of the most producers genre in the world. That's why you have the big titles that pretty much everyone can see, but you also have, like you were saying, small titles, independent titles, amateur titles sometimes that might be very interesting, that must be shown at festivals or happenings that celebrates the horror 360 degrees like style.

3:34Festivals like ours help small directors, independent directors, to show their work. For example, I have a good friend of mine, Daniele Miseschia, which has now shot two movies in Italy, produced by the Manetti Brothers, very famous directors in Italy, who met them at our festival through one of his short films. So the festival also creates an environment of condivision, of sharing opinions and the work of the people that work on short and long movies. And that's what our goal is, to make people that love the same thing, horror and genre films, generally speaking, in a happy place for them. And I love you were telling me as well, you go to Venice Film Festival every year, you know, if you see something interesting, perhaps for your own festival.

4:20But let's talk about some of the titles. I mean, there's one, I mean, the title is brilliant of the name only, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person. I mean, what a title for a film, right? What can you tell us about this one? It's actually one of the two movies that me and another friend of mine, Lorenzo, that collaborate with the festival, saw in Venice. Every year I go to the Venice Film Festival and every time I see a movie that might be of interest of our festival, I always tell to our artistic directors, let's try to get that movie. And this one is one of these. It's not really a horror per se.

4:56It's almost like a grotesque comedy about a young vampire, young in appearance, of course. that actually, as the title reveals itself, find a person who can be her lunch, basically. Do I have to give up my chandelier? No.

5:15What's going on when you go to the sun? On the sun. I think I can see you through your mouth.

5:25I believe in you. You're capable. I can't do it! I can't do it!

5:33And it's a very funny movie at the opposite of the other movie that comes from the Venice Film Festival 2023, which is Le Vour d 'Alac. Actually also vampire, Humanist Vampire is a French title because it's from Canada. Le Vour d 'Alac is based on a very famous novel prior to Dracula, actually. And it's about a vampire that haunts a family in France in the 1700s, if I'm not mistaken, is a very cool movie, especially in the way it's been shot. It has this kind of old style grain in how it appears very atmospheric. And also the vampire, which is at the center of the story, is made with a very weird and grotesque puppet that might be weird to see, but it's very effective at the sight of the eye.

6:18These are two of our main titles.

6:27plus qu 'un maudit Vourdalac. Qu 'est-ce qu 'un Vourdalac?

6:38But our festival has also competition both for short stories written by people and by short films that comes from all around the world. That's the main part of our festival. We have new titles like the one we've already talked about and also we always try to bring on the big screen classical titles. For example, this year we celebrate our good friend, because he was our guest many, many years, Ruggero Diodato, with the new restoration of Cannibal Holocaust, which is his most famous and infamous, I might say, movie. We have the 50th anniversary 4K restoration of The Wicker Man, that you English people know pretty well, I think, and great classics.

7:24Also, we have Night of the Living Dead by George Romero, which is presented in one of our funniest celebration of the festival. It's a movie and breakfast. We offer breakfast to the people and then they enter the movie theater and they go watch the movie. So it's very cool. And also we have Della Morte dell 'Amore, which is a cemetery man, a cemetery boy. I don't remember the English title. It's by Michele Suave in 1994 where Rupert Everett, based on a novel by Tiziano Sclavi, who is the creator of Dylan Dogg, famous comic book movie. Michele Sovi is actually our latest addition in the number of the guests of this year's festival.

8:01We're so happy to have him. He's one of the few, maybe the only master of the Italian genre history of the 20th century that did not attend our festival. And we're very happy to have him after many years chasing him. I was going to ask Michele, what's the relationship with Italians and horror? I mean, we know iconic names, some that you've mentioned, Dario Argento as well. Yes. So I think it's quite a very good country, actually, when it comes to horror movies? Horror movie works excellently in the Italian box office. Unfortunately, following the history of our movie industry, the great directors of Italian cinema in the 50s, in the 60s, in the 70s, Dario Argento, but before him, Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda, many more, invented the kind of horror that later English director, French director, American director made popular all around the world.

8:54If you talk to Sam Raimi, He will tell you that Lucio Fulci is favorite director. Actually, there is a shot in his first Spider-Man movie, which is a spider taken from a frame of The Beyond by Lucio Fulci. Tim Burton is in love with Italian horrors. Guillermo del Toro, many, many great directors. Unfortunately, our industry, starting from the 90s, lost its history of being genre-based. We don't produce westerns anymore. When we produce horrors, unfortunately, many times are unsuccessful. We love probably more the past of our genre school through our big maestros and great filmmakers. But nowadays, it's very difficult to produce horror genre movies in Italy.

9:37And that's unfortunate because I think many talents are involved in our country with genre movies. And Michele, I just want to mention as well, of course, you have your creative director, Enrico Costali. He did the amazing poster. I mean, every year there's a different poster. I think it's so good. I actually believed. Can you explain the poster for this year? It looks like a giant claw coming for a big ship in the ocean. Could have been a great film, I have to say. Oh, absolutely. It has a very Lovecraftian vibe, in my opinion. You have to keep in mind that our hometown, Livorno, is straight on the seaside.

10:14We have the sea pretty much into the city. So the sea for us is a very important element and environment. Also last year's poster was about a girl coming out of the water of the sea It was inevitable Enrico is a great guy He's a great creative director Graphic and web designer Marketing campaign responsible for the festival for many years now And I love his poster Always in black and white So to have that old style feeling And in this year's poster we have this big ship And beyond it you see like this huge tentacle coming out of the sea It's a very evocative image and I love everything he does for the festival.

10:50It's a great team that works behind the festival. I want also to quote Ciro Di Dato, Alessio Porche, the two directors, Filippo Figone, director of organization and communications. We're a great team, to be quite honest. Oh, that's fantastic. And finally, Michele, I just want to ask, do you have a favorite horror film ever? I do. And in respect of what I just told you, I have to tell you that it's Deep Red, Profondo Rosso, by Dario Argento. Grazie. I grew up with my mom talking endlessly about how she remained shocked by the movie when she was a little girl. At a certain point, a new VHS edition was distributed in Italy.

11:28She bought it. I asked her if I could watch it. Luckily, my parents never gave me any kind of censorship or prohibition about what I was able to see. So when I was 12, I saw Deep Red and I slept in her bed for a week or so. To be quite honest, it was really shocking. And you know what, Michele? I believe if you're a parent, kids should watch horror films. I think you learn so much. I saw The Exorcist when I was nine. I didn't have any problems, actually. I think it's so boring to just watch cartoons and Marvel films. I agree, I agree. And also, what I've learned with so many, I've attended all the 12th edition of our FIPLI Horror Festival.

12:06What I've learned is every people that love horror is the gentlest and quieter people you can meet in your life. It might seem paradoxical, but it's not.

12:22That was Michele Innocente, artistic advisor of the FIPILI Horror Festival in Livorno. The show was edited by Townsend Howard, and I am Fernando Augusto Pacheco. Thank you for listening.