– Who is Roberto Iotta?
I am an actor and director from Cremona, the Italian city of violins famous in the world. The love for acting was born when I was 10 years old, I cultivated it through ups and downs, but since 1995 it has become my greatest passion. After years of comic theater, in 2023 I decided to try to make my dream come true: cinema! Now I’m in the stable of an important agency for film actors, but I have a lot of fun writing and directing short films of which I am (obviously!) the protagonist… and I prefer the thriller genre!! I have made five films, the last one is now in post-production, which I have presented at some international festivals winning several awards, including 5 for best actor, of which I am very proud!
– Do you remember the exact moment you fell in love with cinema?
I honestly don’t remember, or maybe I don’t know. I have always been fascinated by the “magic” that cinema creates, it almost allows us to live in past eras, or future, or in distant places with characters who tell us about them and tell us wonderful stories, with special costumes and lights, sets to make you lose your breath … All this, and much more, has an irresistible charm!
-Tell us about your project “CENERE” (Ash).
I usually start with the desire to play a type of character and I build the whole film around it. It also happened for CENERE. I wanted to tell how a lonely person lives, suffering from depression, who feels rejected by many, and in part she really is; what are his fears, his nightmares and moods, but all this in a thriller atmosphere. I tried to experiment. The protagonist’s face is always slightly blurred, and I wanted to try a solution that I saw in a film by Gianni Amelio: a long sequence, without cuts, on the protagonist’s face, to follow the story and get emotionally involved. I am very lucky because in these adventures I have met the collaboration of very good friends who lend themselves willingly. The musician Paolo Catelli took care of the beautiful original soundtracks, and several talented actors gave life to the characters I imagined. My children acted too! Thank you all very much!
-Which director inspires you the most?
Surely Dario Argento is the one who impressed and inspired me the most. I immediately admired his ability to scare the viewer, to make him restless and to make him remember what he has seen for a long, long time. In my opinion, this is very important. I believe that if you can’t hit the viewer’s imagination with at least one particular element, if you can’t make them remember something after the end of the screening, then maybe you haven’t done your job well. I try… but I don’t know if I really succeed!!
-What do you dislike about the world and what would you change?
When I was a child or adolescent, the importance that was given to human relationships was absolutely superior to owning “things”. This order is, in my impression, subverted today. I fear that technology is often misused, that we detach ourselves from reality perhaps to the point of losing the lucid perception of it. Is respect for people, for life, for oneself still sacred?
-How do you imagine cinema in 100 years?
Imagining the world in 100 years is really difficult! Who knows how technology will change everything… However, I like to think that in parallel with the cinema that will be produced in those times, perhaps with immersive effects, there will also be a look at the past, at the cinema of today and yesterday, and I am sure that it will still be able to excite. Who knows if the cinema of 2126 will still be a form of art…
-What is your impression of WILD FILMMAKER?
Surely it is a fantastic reality! An international community of filmmakers, critics, and film producers that tells the story of the greats of cinema, but gives authors from all over the world the opportunity to be known, is something extraordinary! I am very proud to have been interviewed by you, thank you very much!
