Exclusive With ‘Sicilian Letters’ Co-Director Antonio Piazza

Filmmakers Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia mined historical records and their own life experiences to co-write and co-direct Sicilian Letters, a true story about the capture of the last remaining mafia don of Sicily.

In an exclusive interview with Screen Magazine, Piazza shed light on this and many other aspects of the film, which screened at the Chicago International Film Festival after winning the Pasinetti Award for Best Film (and four others) at the Venice Film Festival. 

Sicilian Letters begins with government officials hatching a plan to apprehend Cosa Nostra kingpin Matteo Messina Denaro, a mysterious and brutal killer who eluded justice by hiding in nearly plain view for three decades. Along the way, it shows how Matteo secretly communicated with a small-town politician through handwritten or typewritten letters, mostly because he does not trust technology. 

Throughout the manhunt, Italian families, police officers and secret service agents get involved while also revealing the “tragic and ridiculous” nature of life, according to Piazza. They resemble characters that appear in many Sicilian stories as well as American films like Ethan and Joel Coen’s Burn After Reading, which served as a reference for Sicilian Letters. 

“What you see in the film, it all really happened,” he says. “Reality is a point of departure … the final destination is saying something about the human condition.”

ANTONIO PIAZZA TALKS ABOUT SICILIAN LETTERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcrSL-O6598