Francesca Fialdini: “Making television to change the country”

Francesca Fialdini he has a serious tone when he talks about his work. Rarely does he allow himself a laugh, the lightness of a joke. “It is that certain issues that have been dear to me since I was a child,” she says, trying to explain how it was to revolutionize With us… Freewheeling, back on RaiUno at 5.20pm on Sunday. What emerges, hearing her speak, lucid and precise, is the will to look to the past to understand the future, to rediscover what the pandemic has taken away.

«We tried to recover the original formula of the program. Covid-19, last year, blocked Italy, forcing us to give up a certain type of story. This year, we would like to rediscover the initial spirit that moved the format: its happening show vein. We would like to invite well-known personalities, who are willing to get involved and listen to the stories of ordinary people. We would like to be able to tell the country through the eyes of those who are not famous ». To understand it, however. To read and decipher it. Not to marry the rhetoric that often accompanies certain -isms.

Where does this fighting streak come from?
“My mother, who I believe was the first woman in Italy to be appointed secretary of the DS, taught me to feel responsible for others. I grew up in the shadow of a very busy woman. I remember the tomes in our library, the volumes on the importance of wage harmonization, the debates I attended when the meetings were held in our home ».

How can we eliminate the rhetorical risk from the television story?
“Trying to move from words to deeds. Women’s emancipation is on everyone’s lips now, but why it is so hard to give it a practical application is not said. What we want to ask ourselves is whether the company we are building is really looking to the future. Why do unemployment rates still tell us that it is women, relegated to the role of caregiver, who pay the highest price? Why is there still an automatism in the name of which, on a collective level, one thinks that a woman should dedicate herself first to her family and then to herself? “.

What answers did you give?
«The stories we collected for A free wheel return the sense of loss of today’s girls. In the North, the situation is different, better. Those who live in metropolises and live in dignified socio-economic contexts have the opportunity to look to Europe. In the Center-South, however, women are heavily penalized. There is a tendency, under the scrutiny of experts, which tells of girls forced to give up their professional affirmation, girls who today only hope to settle down soon: to get married, have children ».

Yet, often, we pretend not to see what lies within us to look elsewhere, further away.
“Another thing we’ll discuss. A space of the show will be occupied by the story of the women of Kabul. I would like to try to better understand what moves us emotionally in events like this. I believe that each of us in Italy realizes how those rights that the women of Kabul are denied to us, on paper, are granted. In some areas of the country, however, the structural conditions are lacking to be able to exercise them ».

And does television still have an educational power in this sense?
“Absolutely yes. Chiara Francini’s program on Nove, the one dedicated to drag queens (Drag Race Italia, ed), is an example. It will help us understand how nice it is to feel free. The TV is returning to inflame the minds, and it is good that we get to tell the reality in a playful way. Custom has always anticipated the great revolutions of a country ».

Have you ever thought of taking this sensitivity of yours elsewhere?
“Of course. We are freelancers, not Rai employees. I also like the idea of ​​being able to compare myself with different communication tools. There is interest, in short, but the opportunity never came (laughs, ed). That I tried to expand my business is undeniable. You cannot not live in new technologies if you want to reach young people, and this is what I would like to do ».

Is Sunday afternoon the right place?
«Sunday is a special moment, in which the Italian family, understood as a metaphor, is gathered in front of the television. I appreciate that, with Freewheeling, we often tell strong, raw stories. But these are urgent stories, then pervaded by a certain optimism. We always try to focus attention on the act of courage that has been done to overcome obstacles, so that we can motivate each other ».

The opposite of what is done on other channels, in short. Can we really talk about rivalry with Mediaset’s Sunday?
“I would say no. I know my competitor changes this year. Mediaset has decided to field an exceptional Silvia Toffanin, and I am happy and honored. I was a little afraid they might make this choice, but I can’t feel in competition with that kind of story, because I choose reality, raw reality ».

What the new edition of With us… Freewheeling?
«Of the female question, of love, professional fulfillment, gender transformation, of gestures of solidarity capable of changing entire communities. We will talk about the heroes of everyday life, even mothers, because motherhood today is a great act of courage ».

And space will also be given to breaking news.
«Yes, we realized with the Mottarone tragedy that we cannot ignore information of this type. When things like what we’ve been through happen, we’ll be ready. We owe it to the public ».

On RaiTre, then, he will return with Hunger for love, program dedicated to eating disorders. Will something else follow?
«With Hunger for Love, we will continue our story starting from very strong stories. This year, however, we will also involve families, we will hear the voice of the parents. Then, we are working on a prime time project that, like last year, can be realized on the occasion of the Day on Eating Disorders: a sort of talk ».

Women, current affairs, news, gender identity and eating disorders. What are you still missing?
“There would be one thing. With the authors of Fame d’amore, we are thinking of a format that can tell the psychopathologies of today’s kids. Finally, we have cleared the importance of mental health, therapy. I go to therapy first, and thank goodness I go because it helps me to decompress, to release tension. I think the key may be the docuseries ».