Vanity Fair Stories 2022, Daniele Mencarelli and Federico Cesàri on the series Everything Asks Salvation: «There is still a great difficulty in empathizing with psychiatric illness»

After the success of the previous four editions, the Vanity Fair Storiesthe largest fully live event of Vanity Fair which for the first time is staged at Giorgio Gaber Opera House in Milan (via Larga 14).

This year’s theme The change is you, stories that change the world. Many characters alternate on the stage who are an active part of the change: actors and directors, comedians and singers, writers, dancers, key figures of culture.

Among these too Daniel Mencarelli And Federico Cesàriauthor and interpreter of Everything asks for salvation, on Netflix from October 14th. The series, based on the novel by Mencarelli which won the Premio Strega Giovani in 2020, has the ability to illustrate a new sensitivity towards mental health.

«There was nothing easy in tackling this series – he said immediately on stage Federico Cesàri, who took on the part of someone who has faced a mental illness: «Above all, it was difficult to look the society in which we live in the face. This series is a reflection of stories that really exist and really happened. Until you see it on the screen you’re not even inclined to see these things, you don’t see those places and those sufferings».

The novel and series tell the author’s true life experience Daniel Mencarelli, who due to a fit of anger, was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward with a TSO (Compulsory Health Treatment). «It was important for me to have access to other languages. To heal you need the language of poetry, the arts, literature, which share the fact of existence without turning it into a psychological fact», said the author remembering himself.

But he spoke again about the difficulty of society in accepting mental illness Federico Cesàri: «There is still a great difficulty in empathizing with psychiatric illness. I often wonder what I do in my daily life to prevent mental illness from being stigmatized. In words there is openness, but in practice we are behind».

Thanks to:

Main partners: SKODA

Event supporters: Bancomat SpA

Special initiatives: Berlucchi; Last Supper Artom; Where is it; Bring it; Millefiori; Think Milk, Taste Europe, Be Smart!

Beauty partner: Max Factor

Media partners: RTL 102.5; Urban Vision

Thanks to: Lux Vide; Jellyfish; Universal Pictures; Vision Distribution; Poltrona Frau