Luciano's Friends

Luciano left us on May 13th, 2023. His death left a huge void not only in my life but also to the Italian cinema and to everyone who knew him and appreciate. His legacy remains in the movies he produced and supported, as well as in the institutions he led and always in the memories who loved him. Luciano was a brilliant lawyer and a generous man. A really Lord of the Cinema. I would like to continue to give voice to this man, to his energies, time, job and thinking, by following concretely his example promoting the cinema with the support of all friends, above all to that of the younger authors he loved more.

Luciano Sovena was one of the few reference points in my life, not only for my professional life. I was impressed from the first moment we knew each other, (it was in Frosinone in 1996 during a Festival named “Comicittà” where Luciano was the Director) by his ability to be very serious and at the same time not to do weighing this seriousness to anyone. He was deep in thoughts but light in behavior. I ever hated people of the cinema that take themselves seriously: we deal with cinema not with heart transplants: this is always good to remember. Luciano loved all cinema: the small and indipendent one, the spectacular, the contemporary and that of yesterday. Attending to a Festival with him was one of the most beautiful experiences I ever had: we did important things and learned and at the same time we enjoyed. Moreover Luciano has always been a faithful person: he was faithful in his soul not only in his behavior. He managed in best way all institutions entrusted to him, he created new authors, he accepted and won working bets. He was not a superman, he was a true man.

Luciano was a friend, a colleague, he was generous and visionary. He was my friend forever, a family’s friend before I was even born. He was a nice, critical, intuitive, supportive and always positive colleague. He was generous in examining every project I proposed to him (I mean “every” project) with passion, attention and interest as it was the first one or the last one he was looking at. He was a visionary man in producing innovative cinema, that was international in form and substance, always looking for new young talented authors and near to the really indipendent producers. All this created a furrow from which this Association’s challenge starts. We share the same direction, involvement and philosophy that means having fun in building beautiful things. This is what Luciano taught me.

The cinema especially the indipendent one is likely to become extinct. I mean the indipendent cinema made by screenwriters, directors, producers that put at the first place human creativity and intelligence. The first that realized this are the 170.000 who crossed their arms in Hollywood and joined a harsh strike as we never saw since the 60’s. The cinema they are fighting for is the same cinema that Luciano defended and for the statement of which he always worked with coherence, helping many of us especially authors and producers. Many of us shared Simona’s idea of creating an Association to follow up Luciano’s work with the same strenght, conviction and passion. We are here, we are ready to give suggestions, ideas and to create initiatives, projects and to find resources and partnership to achieve them, not only in Italy but also in all those places that were so significant for Luciano, such as Argentina, Morocco, Tunisia, Albania. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get started.