“No one ever speaks badly of Giffoni. Long live the festival and let’s hope it lasts forever”. Silvio Orlando, the popular Italian actor, was welcomed at #Giffoni50Plus and presented with the most important accolade of the Festival, the Truffaut Award.“I am thrilled. The last time I was here was 1995 and everything has changed since then. I can’t recognise the sites anymore, it has been a truly incredible transformation”. A reference to the pandemic was inevitable: “During the first lockdown I worked on a lot of projects, whereas during the second one I had a few more difficulties, but instead a fantastic season for Italian cinema began”. He now has two films in the pipeline: Roberto Andò’s Il bambino nascosto (The hidden child) and Leonardo Di Costanzo’s Ariaferma (Still Air). “There is a common thread linking these two productions, because both of them, for different reasons, deal with the issue of how to break a chain of violence”. But what is Silvio Orlando’s idea of happiness, cinema aside? “Returning to normality, being able to take off our masks and start spreading enthusiasm again. The virus has taught us a great lesson: nothing can be taken for granted, not even freedom. Before Covid we had the myth of control. Then the world got out of hand and we had to reflect on whether we should take a step back”. Among the many directors Orlando has worked with is Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino: “Being on set with him is like being pushed to the edge of an abyss. It’s like being at Captain Ahab’s side”. His journey is one that has to do with his job as an actor, of course, but also with a very individual work of introspection: “I always say that actors should be like siblings: you can argue with them, you can never see them, but in the end you will always love them”.