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Between the emblem of national shame and Matera, the European capital of culture, there is a tale that no one had yet told. It took Angelo Troiano, 39, from Lucania, to gather the right testimonies to complete the story. With Mediterraneo cinematografica, a, independent production company he founded with his two partners, Giuseppe Marco Albano and Francesco Lattarulo, he came up with the docufilm about the Scaletta, a cultural club founded in 1959 to promote culture and protect the city’s heritage.
Angelo is featured in CNA Storie of the Month.

Culture springboard for Matera

Scaletta, to say the stairways observed among the “sassi”, a clue to ancient rock churches never before mapped and now returned to the city, along with many spaces that enclose stories to be treasured. Like Casa Ortega, which from 1972 to ’76 hosted the famous Spanish artist: in Matera he found inspiration and raw material for his works, many made with the same papier-mâché worked by local artisans for the triumphal float of the patronal feast dedicated to the Madonna della Bruna. For Angelo, first the candidacy and then the designation of Matera as European Capital of Culture 2019 was a real accelerator. “Cinema and audiovisuals played a fundamental role in building the proposal that led to the artistic and cultural dossier of Matera as European Capital of Culture 2019,” explains Angelo.

“Storytelling through image has been a great field of knowledge, experimentation, synergy, and interaction. It made it possible to build specific outputs, and from there to tell Matera and the Basilicata region from a new point of view.”

Storytelling through image has been a great field of knowledge

Basilicata, fertile land that inspires

Angelo is a native of Bernalda, hometown of Agostino Coppola, who emigrated to America in the 1800s. Grandfather of the famous Francis Ford who returned here to visit those places mentioned in the many stories he heard as a child. And collecting and transmitting is the mission of Mediterraneo Cinematografica, which already in its choice of name testifies to the sense of a mission. This coveted and fertile land has always been a crossroads of civilizations. “For us, fertile land means learning from the older generations,” Angelo explains. We don’t want to cover, but to integrate what was there before.” In the past five years, Mediterraneo Cinematografica has produced ten documentaries. The choice of genre stems from the fact that “the documentary, today, allows for so many interesting experiments.”

The choice to speak to a niche audience

Audiovisual is an important piece of the rich Italian cultural mosaic, which nurtures by building value. Angelo is an independent producer who believed in it. He carries the burden of choosing to speak to a niche audience. “Telling a story is a great responsibility, because on the one hand we convey messages and certainties, and on the other hand we stimulate questions.”
In 2021, he founded Kido Music: “We wanted to systematize from another perspective the music we had composed for the original products we made for the production company. And so make them available to other areas, for example for podcasts.”

Matera emblem of redemption for Mezzogiorno, with heart in the world

Matera today is an emblem of courage and redemption, and its evolution encapsulates the choral narrative of the many voices that have contributed to it. Mediterraneo’s vocation is to build collaborations on an international level: “keeping the heart in Basilicata and the head in the world,” Angelo says. “Seventy percent of Mediterraneo Cinematografica’s productions are the result of international co-productions, and this is also thanks to an internationalization activity carried out with CNA, national and regional.
Angelo’s and that of many other young entrepreneurs in the Mezzogiorno is a story of innovative migration: one goes away while staying, one opens up to the world to reap and returns to sow. An unstoppable cycle that feeds on new discoveries and signs of the past precious, to be cherished.

Questo articolo Videostory. The innovative migration of Angelo, who left to stay è stato pubblicato su CNA.