The panel Drama Breakthroughs: Game Changing Stories ended today, 14 October 2024, as part of the tenth edition of the MIA | Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo.
For the second chapter of Drama Breakthroughs, a conversation series launched at MIA in 2023, Sky Studios presented three outstanding productions: The Art of Joy (produced by HT Film), M – Son of the Century (produced by The Apartment) and Dostoevsky (produced by Paco Cinematografica).
The panel opened the MIA Drama programme and featured the creative talents behind the three shows, who shared their insights into the creation of the new series:
Valeria Golino, screenwriter and director of The Art of Joy, described the series’ protagonist, played by Tecla Insolia, as a rebellious character and explained: “Modesta’s obsession is an obsession with the continuous conquest of desire and joy”. She goes on to emphasise: ‘the very interesting thing about this character is the fact that she is a woman and not a man, she is very original in literature. (…) Even heroines who are rebels end up being victims, she doesn’t have that.
Speaking of the characters, the word then goes to Stefano Bises, screenwriter of M – Son of the Century, who introduces the character of Mussolini, played by Luca Marinelli: ‘looking at Mussolini from a distance, most of the visual material is propaganda and the image that is returned is that of the great man. Looking at him more closely, you realise that he is a homunculus (…) He is an opportunist on the edge of cowardice (…) he is totally immoral’.
Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo, scriptwriters and directors of Dostoyevsky, close the speech and, urged on by moderator Paolo Ciccarelli, Head of Drama at MIA | Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo, explain what the series is really about. Fabio D’Innocenzo replies: ‘It is about a search, the deepest sense for me is that of the search for one’s own autonomy of thought. (…) The art of the need to understand and accept oneself even in the worst sides’.
