After intense days of institutional meetings in Rome and Milan finally on Saturday I set off towards Calabria, precisely towards Cittanova, a small town near Gioia Tauro. I had promsed I would go and visit the new Acting School of Calabria, in this nice place with a population of circa 11.000.
Stefano Muroni, our former masterclass juror and current freelancer had spoken to me about this initiative. Stefano is a talented writer and professional actor with a degree in acting achieved at 'Scuola Nazionale di Cinema'. He introduced me to Walter Cordopatri in Rome during the screening of his film “La notte non fa più paura”. Walter was the main actor of his film. This 29 year old talented young actor, had been eager to talk to me about his enterprise. To cut a long story short, he has decided, despite having received lots of offers to work outside his region, to stay and open a cultural industry in his own town, Cittanova. A small unassuming place .... you can already anticipate the similarities with the speaker's story. Walter has indeed founded the first acting school in Calabria.
The Giffoni idea had always attracted and appealed to him for the resemblances with his own story: a small provincial town, challenges and issues to tackle, taboos and so on. Well this young man has decided to realize his dream of an acting school in Cittanova against all odds.
On a cold frisky day he welcomed me, my assistant Marco Cesaro, and Emanuele Mancino. The cold temperature outside was soon overcome by the warm welcome and perfect organization Walter had put in place. They had been waiting for this event and there was great anticipation and you could feel it all around. I met the mayor of Cittanova Francesco Cosentino first thing in the morning. He has been in office for three years and has made culture and legality, as well as public welfare his priorities. He has supported from the very beginning Walter Cordopatri with public structures. We then went on to meet 400 students and teachers from junior and senior high schools at the Cinema Teatro Gentile. In the afternoon we visited the acting school. The structure used to be the town shambles and has now been turned into a 'Polo solidale per la Legalità/Legal solidarity Hub', dedicated to Francesco Vinci, mafia victim. We spent five intense hours with over 80 students, teachers and the community.
There is so much beauty in our provincial towns, so much authenticity. During my long monologues I the value of Walter's initiative became clearer. The importance and at the same time, the responsibility of giving voice to talent and dreams. My special thanks go out to the mayor Francesco Cosentino, his team, school managers and the whole community and last but not least to Walter and his whole team.
Thank you. It was great meeting you all and receiving feedback from the many young boys and girls that attended with enthusiasm!
Claudio Gubitosi
