"GILLO"

When I was asked to write about my memories of Gillo Pontecorvo I did not imagine that I should have such difficulty; I was overwhelmed by many memories, images, the many years we lived together. Gillo was not only a precious friend but also a great master. In the mid-fifties he, Franco Giraldi and I shared an appartment on the top floor of a large palazzo in Via Massaciuccoli. We were always hard up, but full of optimism. Gillo, "the landlord of the house", infected us with his passion for cinema and music. We would talk only of music and cinema and successful dates with women. On very rare occasions he told us about his part in the partisan struggle and his political activities immediately after the war. With persistance, I managed to drag out of him some fragments, some episodes after the time of warm relationships with "old" friends, Negarville, Giorgio Amendola, Pajetta, Giovanni and Enrico Berliguer and many others. Then, with some embaressment and without rhetoric, he would recal moments of tension lived in some risky episodes. I discovered that before the war, having fled from France for fear of racial laws, he had become a champion tennis player.
He was also - I have seen him in action - a formidible underwater fisherman, and an experienced skier. For his first film, "The long blue road", dramatized with his inseparable friend Franco Solinas, we all had some days of great worry. The name Pontecorvo - linked to the adventure of his brother Bruno, the famous nuclear physicist - was suspect, even "dangerous"! They were years of coup d'Ètat plots, of the Tambroni government, of tough trade union struggles. The request for a work permit submitted to the Ministero dello Spettacolo was signed, for the direction, by "Stefano Gillo." Only for the completed film could he put his surname. He wanted me beside him for the first enterprise, which starred Yves Montand, Alida Valli and the young Mario Girotti, as secretary for the performance; After three weeks of work he named me assistant director and after three other directors of a second small unit. Promotions in the field for an extremely rare and brief career.
We were always together for the film "Kapo" and for the unforgettable making of "The Battle of Algiers". During the preparation - from the survey of locations to the choice of every walk on - he was meticulous in checking every detail. He loved real faces, lived in ambiences, an atmosphere where he could already imagine the musical background. Perhaps he felt most free and creative when working on "Giovanna", the story of a textle factory occupied by the women workers in Prato. A few weeks of passionate work, and rediscovered love for great cinema.
Gillo felt free to choose the real faces of working women without a rigid plan. Many worked without being paid: this story was theirs. Gillo has made few films but the images that he leaves us with are a part of the history of cinema. Many remember how brillant he was as Direttore della Mostra del Cinema di Venezia, surrounded by friends, both Italian and foreign artists. I remember him beside his Picci, and his children. With Picci he could at the end of the day talk of music, their great passion.