Between her love for the local gastronomy (“I can’t bring a lot of olive oil in my suitcase, you’ll have to send it to me”) and the openness to the idea of shooting a film in Calabria (“It would be a wonderful idea!”), Susan Sarandon , 76 years old, met the vice president of the regional council, Giusy Princi (who brought the greetings of the president Roberto Occhiuto) and the press – as well as a small selection of the public – on the twelfth floor of the regional Citadel, before attending the evening of ” Magna Graecia Film Festival” of Catanzaro dedicated to her.
The actress, who has Italian origins (the surname of her mother, originally from Ragusa, is Crescione), launched a heartfelt appeal: «I’ve been trying to have Italian citizenship for some time, but I can’t. I drink coffee, I also had a daughter from an Italian (Eva had in 1985 from Franco Amurri) what else should I do? I also have all the documentation ready, someone help me». President Occhiuto answers her closely on her social networks: «We have applied to give her the“ Calabrian citizenship ”».
The Oscar-winning actress, due to the delivery of silence on more strictly cinematographic themes imposed by the strike of Hollywood actors and screenwriters, was only able to answer questions about her stay in Calabria and those about the reasons for the strike itself. For the same reason, Sarandon did not participate in the screening of her most iconic film, “Thelma & Luise”, held in the historic center of the regional capital.
In addition to the words of praise for Calabria, the actress dwelled extensively on the reasons for the Hollywood protest: «The actors are no longer able to live. The Actors Union says you have to earn $26,000 a year to get access to health care. 87% of actors do not reach this figure. In addition, the studios would like to have the actors have their body scanned and then use it to create actors with artificial intelligence».
The actress was accompanied and introduced by Gianvito Casadonte, creator and artistic director of the festival, and by Anton Giulio Grande, president of the Calabrian Film Commission, which together with the Calabria Region is one of the main sponsors of the event.
In the evening, Susan Sarandon took the stage of the festival set up in the Porto area of the seaside district of Catanzaro for a talk show. At the end, the actress received the Golden Column for Lifetime Achievement, the award created by the goldsmith company Gb Spadafora.