How to explain the importance of scientific research? By telling stories with a high emotional content. Stories that do not differ from what is done every day in a pharmaceutical laboratory, for example. Stories of common lives, full of emotions, passions, hopes. Stories only apparently impossible. Like the one that tells “Reimagine», the short film born from the collaboration between the pharmaceutical company Novartis and the manufacturing company One More Pictures founded by Manuela Cacciamani, scripted by Giulio Mastromauro, entrusted to the direction of Gianluca Mangiasciutti and starring a top-notch cast, including Federico Ielapi, Rocío Muñoz Morales e Brenno Placido.
IS a contemporary fairy tale about ten minutes long Reimagine, where the value of pharmaceutical research and the warmth of affections converge, the loss linked to illness and the enthusiasm for a scientific discovery useful for everyone’s health, the tenacity of memory and the certainty of a better future, to be built. A short film that is fully part of a new cinematic genre that wants to tell stories, experiences, visions in the medical-scientific field, and that by touching the most intimate chords of the viewer, communicates a fundamental message and today more important than ever: Research is the future.
To strengthen trust in science, a fundamental resource for society, and to convey the value and importance of supporting scientific research at all levels “we wanted to take a new path: that of emotions”, explained the country president Italy and CEO of Novartis Pasquale Frega, on the occasion of the presentation to the press of the short film which took place in Rome at the headquarters of ANICA, the national association of audiovisual and multimedia film industries. “We hope to be the first example that will be copied by many others.”
Reimagine is part of the Novartis program People in Science-Science to live, intended for scientific literacy in order to strengthen the awareness among the Italian population that knowledge and the scientific method are fundamental requisites for active and responsible participation in the life of the country and its growth. It will be distributed on multiple channels, from platforms to television stations, and will be presented this summer to the kids of # Giffoni50Plus, scheduled from 21 to 31 July 2021.
Moreover, today, health and science have entered everyone’s homes in a preponderant way and this has generated fertile cultural ground to be able to open a dialogue and feed that sentiment which is pouring great trust in those who have made it their mission.
Dr. Frega, what is the pandemic teaching to ordinary people and to those who work in scientific-pharmaceutical research?
«He is teaching ordinary people that health is not just health but social development. The pandemic is offering those who work in research the opportunity to enhance their efforts, making the “mission” even more fundamental for the whole community ».
How did the idea of using a tool linked to the world of entertainment, such as cinema, to implement this work of great scientific awareness come about?
«What we observed during the pandemic and the general sentiment, which however includes a denial that is still too high, a barrier that inevitably impacts on evolution. We asked ourselves the question of how to give a strong message that is part of a process aimed at shaking everyone’s consciences a little. Hence, an extremely emotional short film – thanks to fantastic actors and a very touching fairy tale – allows us to reach many people in a much more intense way than the way we managed to communicate in the past ».
What is the strength of cinema in this sense?
«Cinema can become an extraordinary tool: it excites, it has a narrative capacity that makes it easy for the public to reach the value of being able to take a “second life”, the concept of the right to health. Reimagine, this contemporary fairy tale, fully represents what we do every day: try to save people’s lives ».
We are used to perceiving the scientific environment, and more specifically that of Research, as a cold place, made up of formulas and numbers. Instead, this short film also shows the strong emotions behind the work and that often motivate the Research. Why is this aspect in the background in reality?
«In life, what makes the difference is passion. In any job and in any field, whether you are an actor or an employee of a pharmaceutical company, the difference is the passion you put into it. Having the goal of improving everyone’s health really generates a lot of passion. The reason why this is not understood is, on the one hand, that we have never made a significant effort to communicate it and on the other hand, because before the pandemic the citizen was not interested in health except if he suffered from a disease. There was a sense of rejection towards the disease in general, so the thought “if I don’t suffer from it is something I don’t care about” was worth it. The pandemic has changed and is profoundly changing this dynamic ».
Why is little investment in research in Italy? At what level is there really a lack of awareness?
«Above all, it is lacking at the political and institutional level. This deficiency is the sum of mistakes made over the decades, so it is a factor that must be eradicated as if it were a disease. In Italy 1.4% of the Gross Domestic Product is invested in Research, which is a very low figure compared to that of the most committed countries, which reach 5%. The approach to research must be overturned and this can happen by instilling in citizens the awareness that research means future ».
Reimagine will be presented this summer at # Giffoni50Plus, so that the message can be spread even among the youngest. Do you feel a greater interest and greater involvement in the scientific approach by the new generations?
«Statistics today tell us that unfortunately – compared to OECD countries – the new generations are far behind. And this increases the sense of responsibility we must all have in helping our young people. I personally believe that these new generations are very curious but that they also need help to correctly address their curiosity. The world is connected, the Internet offers us incredible possibilities, but also in the wrong directions. We must help the new generations to focus on a correct environment, made up of correct information ».
The making of this short film is part of a large scientific literacy project that Novartis has chosen to launch to spread the importance of the scientific method and to invest in research. Will there be other side projects as well?
«Last October we signed an agreement with the Ministry of Cultural Heritage to implement initiatives for the scientific literacy of the population, with greater reference to the new generations. The film is therefore part of a much broader and more ambitious project: we are about to launch a series of initiatives that will start from schools and involve universities, precisely with the aim of reaching as wide an audience as possible ».
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