Daniela Scattolin: “It’s already called Futura”

This article is published in number 17 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until April 27, 2021

When, as a child, Ernestine made her braids – Ernestine came from Cameroon and was the only one in the area who knew how to handle her hair – Daniela cried because it hurt like hell. “Don’t cry dear, God gave everything to us black women, only our hair is our misfortune”, the woman consoled her. Almost 25 years later, Daniela would like to find Ernestine and her child, and tell them that God, or whoever he is, has given black women everything, “even beautiful hair to be proud of,” she says.

And as he does so he looks at the belly (eight months, female), suggesting that the most important opportunity to teach what pride is is not far off.
Twenty-seven years old, four exams to graduate in Pharmacy, Daniela Scattolin is one of the protagonists of Zero, Netflix original TV series that gives us a magical story, written by Antonio Dikele Distefano, which features a group of Afro-Italian boys and gave her the love of her life. But before the pleasure, let’s talk about duty.

Why didn’t she graduate?
«I lack technology 2, it is very difficult. I was studying pharmacy and in the meantime I was taking two acting courses, back and forth between Rome and Padua. I told myself that while I can graduate at any time, perhaps to be an actress you have to seize the moment. Zero arrived and it seemed to me a very special occasion to talk about the normal life of us Afro-Italians and also about racism not in its dramatic sense, but daily, which is what we need to work on ».
Do you know racism “of the little things”?
“Of course. How many times have they told me: “What a beautiful you are, you speak Italian so well”, one of the classic phrases that, even those who suffer them, tend to justify. I have often wondered how I would have lived if I did not have a well-groomed appearance, education and culture, all of which create a compromise with my skin. A compromise that hides an injustice because not being racist means accepting the other regardless of his way of presenting himself ».
Is Italian cinema racist?
“I’m just starting out, I can’t even say I’m an actress, but the proposals that come to me are always for certain roles. I said no to an important fiction, in which I had to play the usual black prostitute. And I said yes to the same role – that of a prostitute – in another beautiful project, because the character has a meaning in the story and its complexity. It is the role of Nerina in the L’Ora series, which tells the story of the Sicilian newspaper which, under the direction of Vittorio Nisticò, thanks to his investigations shed light on the mafia phenomenon. So there is this stereotype of roles – the prostitute, the immigrant on the boat – and there is that of the casting requests, which always want mulatto people. My type, dark skin, never. As if mulatto were the only nuance, the compromise, acceptable. Instead in Zero the protagonist, Giuseppe Dave Seke, is a black guy like me. I hope that the Italian screenwriters reflect on this thing ».
Even if they are the first, do your professional steps have a political character?
«Politico is a bit too much for my tools, but I try to choose always thinking that behind me there is a community of women. If this is political, then yes. Being silent or indignant on social media doesn’t make much sense if you don’t act. I want to choose knowing my rights and claiming them, as my mother Francesca taught me. He always told me that in life I would have to fight three times: as a human being, as a woman, and as a black woman ».
Where did she grow up?
“I was born in Vicenza, but my biological parents, my father came from Ghana, my mother from South Africa, gave me up for adoption. After a couple of years with a foster care that did not go well, Mario and Francesca, a neurologist mother and an engineer father, arrived. Together we lived in Scorzè, a small town in the Veneto region, which everyone knows because they make water there with the swallow on it. Cindy Crawford also came to shoot the commercial! ».
Do you have a relationship with your biological parents?
“I know their names and I am very grateful for them because they first gave me life, and then they also saved it, giving me up for adoption. In all these years I have never looked for them, nor have they ever looked for me, and I am glad that we are all respecting some kind of pact. Returning to each other’s lives would in some way mean overturning them. My adoptive family was my luck. I know that many children who are adopted experience this as a pain; for me, however, it was a blessing. Perhaps, who knows, one day I will be curious to look for them, but if it happens it will be, precisely, out of curiosity. Because I already have a family ».
Which is spreading.
“On the first day of Zero’s set, Haroun and I (who is Sharif in the show) just said hello. But in that hello there was already everything: the furious fight we were going to have shortly thereafter, and also the crazy love that would break out. When the pandemic hit, we locked ourselves together in a hotel room for the whole lockdown. So now he knows the worst sides of me, and I know the worst of him. We talked about having a baby soon, and she quickly went on to revolutionize our lives. We are looking for a house in Turin, where Haroun grew up and where his family lives. Our families have been present and important in our relationship: to two who like us make sparks, they have taught love. Haroun’s mum has already embroidered a bib with our little girl’s name on it. But I am not saying this because I hope my proposal passes until the end, unanimously rejected by all ».
At least tell me this.
“Blue. I like it a lot, but only me ».
A child is a beautiful act of courage at the beginning of a career.
“I am not afraid that my child is a problem for my work, I am rather afraid of a country that does not support mothers and does not put them in a position to be able to work with serenity and with the protections they must have”.
Excuse me but why, if you love your afro hair, do you wear it straight?
«The hairdressers, on the sets, don’t know which way to take them, so I iron them so they don’t ruin them. Who knows one day there will be no need to have an Ernestine in every backstage ».

PHOTO: ILARIA BONCOMPAGNI

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