The Polish director Jan Komasa wanted to express his solidarity with the people of Messina for the theft of Antonello’s works. The 45-year-old Komasa, nominated for an Oscar for the film “Corpus Christi”, was the first foreign guest last July 26 at the “Messina International Film Festival” to talk to the public at the Apollo cinema about his film “Good Boy” and then be awarded the “Queen of Peloro” on stage in the Agora of the Strait. During his stay in Messina, which he was visiting for the first time, Jan Komasa already had his own itinerary in mind among the artistic and landscape beauties of Pelorita and in the end with great enthusiasm he promised himself to return as soon as possible.
One of the places that most impressed him was the Regional Museum. Upon hearing the news of the theft of Antonello’s works, Komasa wrote a message to Franco Cicero, president of the Scientific Committee of the Exhibition, to communicate his intense reactions: “Honestly – writes the director – at the beginning I didn’t understand that it was precisely the paintings by Antonello that my wife Kinga and I had seen at the MuMe that had been stolen. It’s an absolutely devastating thing. I’m truly indignant. Just a few days ago we found ourselves in front of these works, in the same museum where I saw the “Resurrection of Lazarus” by Caravaggio, which deeply affected me. To think that someone could simply enter during the August holiday and take possession of a part of this extraordinary cultural heritage is almost inconceivable to me. I remember that the museum seemed well protected, which makes the audacity of this gesture even more shocking. Who does something like this? Who thinks they can privately own something that belongs not only to Messina and Sicily, but in a certain sense to everyone? we Europeans? I feel so sorry for Messina. I can only imagine what the citizens of Messina are feeling about this loss. But I must also say that I am personally deeply affected by it – concludes Komasa – they are part of my European heritage and, after seeing them with my own eyes, I have the clear feeling that a small part of something that belongs to all of us has been stolen.