IT
On July 13, the U.S. actors’ union Sag-Aftra, after breaking off negotiations with the AMPTP, called one of the largest strikes in the history of the film industry: not since 1960 has there been such a strong and compact mobilization. And that doesn’t just mean blocked sets. The conditions of the protest include unbreakable restrictions on talent as well:
– they will not be allowed to promote series and films that have already been made;
– they will not be allowed to tell about upcoming works and their careers in any public meetings;
– they will not be allowed to give interviews;
– nor participate in photocalls or carpets of any kind.
All this would also apply to the presence of Matt Smith (July 24) and Asa Butterfield (July 26) at our festival, forcing jurors into an experience not natural to Giffoni. In our halls speaking is a right and being heard is a duty. Freedom, encounter, confrontation without limits and barriers have been the indispensable characteristic of every single event for 53 years. Those who choose, edition after edition, to return to a country outside the world but with the world inside, do so to experience that short circuit of cultures, thoughts and ideas capable of triggering in just ten days and changing, forever, the life of each of us.
It is in order not to betray our history and identity that we chose to forego the meetings already scheduled with Matt Smith and Asa Butterfield. A painful but convinced decision. There is indeed a unique, firm, INDISPENSABLE value that we cannot do without: loyalty to the dreams, expectations and hopes of thousands of girls and boys, our giffoners.