The I-Fest of Castrovillari, which after 11 days of projections, exhibitions, masterclasses and appointments dedicated to the big screen has reached its final jokes, is experiencing the gala evenings in this intense weekend, during which the great guests of this amazing sixth edition, after the traditional appointments with the Red Carpet and the photocall, receive the prestigious I-Fest Special Award, a creation. of the master goldsmith Michele entrusted. After Lina Sastri, Lunetta Savino, Stefano Sardo and Peter Greenaway, on Friday evening it was the turn of Stefania Sandrelli, an authentic legend of Italian cinema and a real timeless icon, whose magnetic presence has conquered entire generations of spectators.
With an extraordinary career behind him, during which he won four David di Donatello (including the career one in 2018), six silver ribbons and the golden lion with his career at the 2005 Venice Film Festival, he played many unforgettable roles, embodying with a disarming naturalness the multiple facets of the Italian woman.
In Castrovillari, she was welcomed on the wonderful stage designed by Mario Garrambone by the artistic director Giuseppe Panebianco and the historic of cinema Fabio Melelli and paid homage to video tributes by Glauce Valdini, who told about it his incredible artistic path.
The public, from his, paid her a real ovation. We met her closely and she, elegant, refined and seductive as always, told herself without filters, proving to be a fucked and deeply in love woman of life and her work.
What is cinema for you?
«Cinema for me is truly a great passion; Something I have always done and that I continue to do following my happiest, stronger instinct! ».
How did you get closer to the cinema?
«I went to theaters with my brother Sergio, who contributed so much to my training and career. He was seven years older, he was a real dog and always took me to see the movies just released. When I was young in Viareggio, where I was born, there were six cinemons all in wonderful liberty style, which broadcast the preview films (they arrived first in Viareggio that in Florence) and when we could, type of summer, we saw at least two a day “.
It was directed by the greatest Italian directors. What is it that makes them say “yes” to a movie?
«During my career I shot a hundred films and collaborated with all the greatest Italian directors (from Germi to Bertolucci, passing through Monicelli, Scola and Sorrentino), but sometimes I also said not to important directors. I never made a movie because I wanted to prove I was beautiful or good, the only thing that has always imported me was to make a good movie. This means that when they offer me a script, I read it carefully and, if I like it, I make the movie, otherwise not ».
You have been able to embody the multiple facets of the Italian woman. Despite being Tuscany, some of his memorable roles are of southern women. What does Stefania Sandrelli have of southern?
“Well, I believe that in the South it characterizes the passion with which I act, an almost primordial instinct, that the inhabitants of the South have by nature, regardless of everything”.
I-Fest wanted to pay homage to it by choosing it as the protagonist of the official manifesto of this 2025 edition, what do you think?
«The manifesto is very beautiful and when I saw it I had the impression of having a sort of image in front of me that emerges from time, glossy and poignant at the same time. The photo is taken from “I knew it well”, a film that was and is still, although it was shot as many as 60 years ago, when I was really a girl, a real masterpiece signed by Antonio Pietrangeli ».
In these days he is here in the splendid Pollino park … what do you think of this territory? What is your relationship with Calabria?
«Calabria is beautiful, there is something primitive that makes it unique. The territory around Castrovillari is beautiful but the Calabrian sea is also unique. I always went to the sea in Versilia, but a year, when my son Vito was very young, we went down in the car in Copanello and I remember him as a wonderful place. It was an unforgettable holiday. Long live Calabria! ».