The mafia only kills in summer

Directed by Director's notes
  • Luca Ribuoli
Directed by
  • Luca Ribuoli
Year
  • 2016
Length
  • 12x50”
Year
  • 2016
Length
  • 12x50”
Cast
  • Claudio Gioè
  • Francesco Scianna
  • Valentina D'Agostino
  • Anna Foglietta
Synopsis

The TV series is based on the film of the same name written and directed by Pif and tells, through the off camera voice of Pif, the tale of a familiy from Palermo in the late ‘70s.
A “normal” family– father, mother, a ten-yer-old boy and a sixteen-year-old girl –  tackling their working, romantic  and economicdifficulties.
These day-to-day events  are rendered a bit less normal by the setting:Palermo dominated by Cosa Nostra.
Maintaining the same tongue-in-cheek and emotional tone as the film,the series becomes the story of the most bloody and violent mafiaonslaught, bringing children up in “apparent normality” which isactually a “war”.
The tale mixes tragedy and comedy, looking into our unsettling past todescribe our present.

Director's notes
  • I had seen Pif's "La mafia uccide solo d’estate" and I liked it. When I learned that they were developing a TV series based on the film, I immediately thought I would like to direct it. That's when I started to get interested in the theme of the series. And, among the many books available, among those that could give me a broad picture of Sicily and Sicilians, I chose "La Sicilia come metafora," an interview book by Marcelle Padovani with Leonardo Sciascia. In my work, signs matter, and I interpreted the news, learned precisely in those days, that the author lived in Rome, a few steps from my house, as a sign. That's when I thought that Sicily was getting closer. It was in those same days that they offered me to direct the series. I couldn't wait to face the story of that reality so distant. I was certainly not afraid of the transposition into comedy, but I was only worried about not grasping its essence. I am half Piedmontese and half Emilian, and I needed to immerse myself in the reality of Palermo and the mafia, to grasp its spirit, perhaps even its meaning. I didn't know yet that Palermo is an elusive city, that it is not only made of mafia, but I knew that the difference lay there, in the ability or not to understand that world.

    I thought of reading all the mafia books I could find, but I soon realized it would be impossible. Not even if I had a year could I tackle the entire bibliography on the Sicilian mafia. Then I took a trip to Palermo, in the summer, to see the people, hear them speak, reason, tell stories, even just to see them move in their natural space. I met Pif in the Libertà neighborhood, where he was born and raised. We walked a few streets. Between one corner and another, I learned about the places where the head of the Palermo flying squad, Boris Giuliano, the president of the Sicilian region, Piersanti Mattarella, Judge Rocco Chinnici, and the entrepreneur Libero Grassi were assassinated between '79 and '91. Pif was happy that a series would be born from the film. There would thus be the possibility of making those tragic realities, of which I had had a taste in that short journey, known to a wider audience. At that point, I was ready to face my work. I tried to create a world that drew inspiration from the film but then managed to have its own autonomy because serial storytelling has other rules, other times. These were my directorial intentions. To carry things within me along the journey, perhaps modify them, deepen them if possible, but keep them inside, never betray them. All the rest, as Falcone said, is hard work. Of course, my work is different, and my battle resembles more an enormous game. But it was always hard work.
Directed by
  • Luca Ribuoli
Story
  • Michele Astori
  • Stefano Bises
  • Pierfrancesco Diliberto
Screenplay
  • Stefano Bises
  • Michele Astori
  • Michele Pellegrini
Executive producer
  • Olivia Sleiter
Wildside Producers
  • Mario Gianani
  • Lorenzo Mieli
RAI Fiction Producers
  • Daria Hensemberger
  • Francesca Loiero
Editing
  • Marco Garvaglia
Scenography
  • Marta Maffucci
Director of photography
  • Ivan Casalgrandi
Costumes
  • Eva Coen
Music
  • Santi Pulvirenti
Direct sound engineer
  • Alberto Amato
Casting
  • Francesco Vedovati
General organizer
  • Fulvio Rossi
Director's notes
X

I had seen Pif's "La mafia uccide solo d’estate" and I liked it. When I learned that they were developing a TV series based on the film, I immediately thought I would like to direct it. That's when I started to get interested in the theme of the series. And, among the many books available, among those that could give me a broad picture of Sicily and Sicilians, I chose "La Sicilia come metafora," an interview book by Marcelle Padovani with Leonardo Sciascia. In my work, signs matter, and I interpreted the news, learned precisely in those days, that the author lived in Rome, a few steps from my house, as a sign. That's when I thought that Sicily was getting closer. It was in those same days that they offered me to direct the series. I couldn't wait to face the story of that reality so distant. I was certainly not afraid of the transposition into comedy, but I was only worried about not grasping its essence. I am half Piedmontese and half Emilian, and I needed to immerse myself in the reality of Palermo and the mafia, to grasp its spirit, perhaps even its meaning. I didn't know yet that Palermo is an elusive city, that it is not only made of mafia, but I knew that the difference lay there, in the ability or not to understand that world.

I thought of reading all the mafia books I could find, but I soon realized it would be impossible. Not even if I had a year could I tackle the entire bibliography on the Sicilian mafia. Then I took a trip to Palermo, in the summer, to see the people, hear them speak, reason, tell stories, even just to see them move in their natural space. I met Pif in the Libertà neighborhood, where he was born and raised. We walked a few streets. Between one corner and another, I learned about the places where the head of the Palermo flying squad, Boris Giuliano, the president of the Sicilian region, Piersanti Mattarella, Judge Rocco Chinnici, and the entrepreneur Libero Grassi were assassinated between '79 and '91. Pif was happy that a series would be born from the film. There would thus be the possibility of making those tragic realities, of which I had had a taste in that short journey, known to a wider audience. At that point, I was ready to face my work. I tried to create a world that drew inspiration from the film but then managed to have its own autonomy because serial storytelling has other rules, other times. These were my directorial intentions. To carry things within me along the journey, perhaps modify them, deepen them if possible, but keep them inside, never betray them. All the rest, as Falcone said, is hard work. Of course, my work is different, and my battle resembles more an enormous game. But it was always hard work.