Francesca Marino: “Make way for the directors”

Per Francesca Marino Blackout Love, the film with Anna Foglietta and Alessandro Tedeschi available on Prime Video from 9 July, which marked its debut in the world of cinema, was a “birth” from many points of view: “I started working on it four years ago, then it was blocked for Covid and postponed due to Anna’s previous commitments “Marino says on the phone, explaining that, in reality, his debut should have been with another film, Blu, winner of the Solinas award in 2015, a teen project that could soon become a TV series.

In the meantime, though, Marino is enjoying success by retracing not only the beginnings of his career – it helped that being the daughter of Umberto Marino, director and screenwriter -, but also sharing his plans for the future, based on genres that are very different from romantic comedy.

Where did the idea of Blackout Love?
“It is a film that, initially, was born in the masculine: when they proposed to decline it on the other side, however, I immediately accepted the input while explaining that I did not want to make a film for women, but a film with people. I wanted to avoid dogma alla Sex and the City and shut myself up to tell about women, shoes, dresses and bags: I treated the characters as people really are, and Anna immediately embraced the idea ».

In recent years something has been changing in cinema, as there are many more directors directing films and TV series, don’t you think?
“Yes, in this last period female directing is fashionable, but when Matteo Rovere chose to invest in me the climate was not so favorable and, above all, taken for granted. In my life I have often found myself being the only female author and, even today, if I tell my neighbor that I made a film, she thinks I am an actress and not a director ».

How do you explain it?
“Beyond the discourse on being a woman, I think there is also a generational problem: fortunately there are producers like Rovere who invest in young people and first works. From the Experimental Center – which I attended – 50% of graduated filmmakers leave, but only 10 make their debut ».

The spark for this work when it was born instead?
“From a very young age. I was on the set of a movie of my father which was called Last bench: we were on the beach and I had to make sand castles as an extra. I remember this very long trolley that had been assembled and my eyes full of amazement: I immediately understood that in life I wanted to do this, even if my family tried to hinder me in every way, they wanted me to be a lawyer ».

But how? With a father as a director?
«They knew that it is a world made up of many disappointments and they hoped that I would do something more” safe “, even if, in hindsight, they made up their mind when I entered the Experimental Center. I’ve always wanted to emancipate myself but, at the age of 17, I also felt the need to find something that was mine, so I started taking photographs: I needed to devote myself to an activity that wasn’t hereditary ».

Did the fact of being a daughter of art help or penalize you the most?
“It certainly helped me because, beyond the Experimental Center, I had an incredible wealth of experience at my disposal, not to mention that my father has always been my most severe teacher. My family has never exceeded in compliments, in fact I remember that, when my father complimented me for the Solinas film, I felt that I would win the prize, and so it was ».

Do you dream for the future?
“I’d like to do something that allows me to express myself, even if I don’t want to be pigeonholed into something. I would love, for example, shooting an action movie – I have a forced soul, my favorite director is Tony Scott – but also something related to adolescence because it is a topic that interests me a lot, having a much younger brother than me. . That said, come on Blackout Love I’m happy, but on an artistic level I feel I have many other things to express ».

(Opening photo by Erica Fava)