Several months before we left for Italy for our May/June trip, I began to communicate with our friend, Susan (whom we met at the Villa La Palagina in Figline Valdarno in 2012), who conveyed to 5 Star Movement Spokesperson, Andrea Martellini my desire to interview members of the movement who had been part of the recent success. After months of back and forth emails, which can only be described as negotiations, we agreed on a time, place, and format. Alan's Italy Show # 75 is the product of that endeavor. My first choice of venue had been the same location in which we interviewed Andrea back in 2012, namely the back lounge of the hotel in Florence, a quiet, peaceful, and relaxing venue during which time Andrea bewitched us with a wonderful presentation of his views and the views of the 5 Star Movement, and the movement's founder, Beppe Grillo. This time, however, they insisted on meeting in Figline Valdarno at a place of their choosing. Originally they wanted me to also meet perhaps half dozen representatives, all newly elected, for a two hour pre-interview session for some orientation. I told Susan that I just didn't have time for that and frankly did not want to interview so many people. I insisted that they narrow it to just a couple of people, limit the interview to a one hour (at most) informal discussion, and agreed to meet in the Figline Town Hall. I brought my dear friend Luca with me for translating purposes, and with Laura performing the videography off we went. We were told to meet them in the village piazza, where they then led us to a busy and noisy restaurant. Right away I was dubious of the choice of location, but eagerly followed along with my entourage.
We sat at the back of the restaurant and began what became three different video segments totally a bit less than 30 minutes. We did 3 shorter segments because at the time Laura and I were unsure whether the camera, a sophisticated canon, but not intended for extensive videography, would shut down after a time, so we kept stopping. That issue was not the problem, however, as the excessive noise of a busy restaurant became the real stumbling block. When we viewed the video at home in Woodstock, we felt that there was so much noise from the dishes being moved around, people talking, and the general racket of a busy eatery, that we might not even show any of it on an actual broadcast. I, nonetheless, created a show around the three videos, with some background about Beppe Grillo, the founder of the movement, the previous interview we did with Andrea in 2012, and the best part of all, a short 5 minute interview at my friend Luca in his home that evening in which he talks about the plight of the average person in Italy dealing with the extremely horrid economic conditions. He also spoke about why he voted for the 5 Star Movement. With the finished product just about honed for the actual show, I decided upon the schedule for the show # 75, and went about my business of creating programs about the Palazzo Bembo (shows # 70, 71, 72), the Jews of Italy (shows # 68 and #69), the 3 Venice Hotels (show # 74) and Venice Neighborhoods (show # 73).
Amid all the problems I had with show # 70 having had to re-tape the show twice after the original broadcast, I also struggled with the idea of whether to do the 5 Star Movement Show at all. Throwing care to the wind, I did it last night amid the additional turmoil of doing the live broadcast. First Ellen told me that the channel wasn't functioning well with frequent blackouts during broadcasts. Then I noticed during the show that the voices were not properly synched to the lips of the speakers. Then Ellen told me there were sound problems. And on and on. I took the DVD home, looked briefly at it, so disgusted about the whole project, I nonetheless decided to download to my computer and then upload to Youtube. Then I intended to explain the whole mess on this blog, and chalk up the whole disaster to the amateurish, cable access, live broadcast excuses I always use. I liked that idea a lot so people can see how difficult this whole project had been over the past almost two years.
I just watched the show and it really is not so bad, and I must admit rather fulfilling to have come through all this and been able to view a finished product. You can still hear the voices fairly well, especially if you really concentrate, the lips are perfectly synched, and the message the speakers convey is so important for the United States, all "free" societies, and the world of politics in general, that I am actually proud to now present to you Alan's Italy Show # 75: Italy's Miracle Election, the Movimento Cinque Stelle (5 Star Movement), The People Who Made it Happen.
Whew ! Thank God that's over. Now on to other projects. Next week I take a break and return with Ric Hirst and Michelangelo in Rome, a show I began to organize almost a year ago about Il Divino's work in Rome.
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