The Festival of Letters told by its director: “Writing is a rare gesture”

I keep the letters received up to the age of thirty in a vintage metal box, before the advent of the words touch. Rereading them is an open heart operation. Reading letters, always a pleasure. The ‘Festival of Letters’ is calling me. In its seventeen editions, the festivaldellelettere.it has collected the beauty of 27 thousand, and of the 800 received this year, on 13 and 14 May in Villa Clerici in Milan, some will be read, set to music, illustrated, selected to give winners. And exhibited, at the ‘House of letters’, where they can be browsed for the occasion. Or even just peek. The Festival is organized by the 365gradi Cultural Association, the artistic director is Marco Corbaniwith which we sit in a glazed room, after having only admired a still virgin series of poufs created for the occasion: they can be read before sinking into them.

A first curiosity: calligraphy. Sometimes I find myself lost in front of my words.

“We request handwritten letters (accompanied by the typed version) because behind calligraphy there is the substance of a message, the strength of a feeling, the traits of a character: the Italian Calligraphic Association, our travel companion, teaches us this with which we organize performances, calligraphy courses, which in many countries, Japan above all, are very strong. Especially to managers, precisely because it’s a physical experience.”

The athletic desk gesture. Words cannot be wasted.

“Writing a letter is a rare gesture, it is certainly not an everyday thing. It can even happen if you do it just once in a lifetime, but it has a value that does not pass. While everything slips away.”

Like an Instagram story. Where did this idea of ​​the Letters come from?

“On the subway. I arrived from Bergamo and was dealing with Milan. In the morning I felt the energy of that “something” that must happen, then in the evening, when I returned, I only saw heads bent over the newspaper, gazes intent on reading a telephone screen (there were still no smartphones), or isolated in the thought of the family, the children, of what I have to do…”

The drama of the Milanese: always head to what to do.

“This picture made me think about the need for a tool that was able to connect anyone, that was within everyone’s reach. The letter has this power: I speak to you without being forced to speak to you; I do it when I want; I leave you your times. This was the beginning of the Festival and I said to myself: no one will write anyway…”

Instead.

“850 letters arrive in the first year. From all over Italy. The ground was fertile as was the potential of the letter instrument. We sent some of these to the artistic director of a short film festival in London, he selected the directors and after six months the films arrived. Absolute masterpieces.”

Each edition has three categories. Recipient of the year, with a separate section dedicated to the under 14s. Letter on any subject. Letter in the drawer. Let’s start with the recipient. What was the first?

“Letter to an Enemy.”

Simenon’s ‘Letter to my judge’ immediately comes to mind. Which in my case would be cast iron. Which enemies won?

“Not what you expect. As happened with Letter to a Stranger. Most under 14s have written to a parent. We are the enemies, the foreigners. Because you are never at home. Why don’t you listen. Why don’t you notice. But even among adults, out of 100 letters, just two told of the stereotype of ugly, dirty, window cleaners, boats, etc. The other 98 were written to the neighbor, to her husband, in short, to people who were close, really strangers.”

Isn’t there the risk of invention, out of complacency, or to amaze the jury?

“Perhaps, but if they are incisive, exciting, if they reveal a powerful feeling, we reward them. For example, that of a mother who wrote to her son that she was yet to be born: he was the foreigner. A letter that has become an amazing short film.”

Letter to an unborn child has illustrious precedents.

“But the baby, in this case, was already born. That letter was the time travel of a mother who returned to her feelings of thirty years before her, true feelings anyway and that she wrote to her son that she was about to be born. For her he was the real foreigner: what he will be like, what he will do, what he will want! And that big boy, now a man, was on stage to collect the award with his mother. So you have zeroed out everything that is said about the foreigner. Among other things, we happened to choose a recipient and find ourselves in the boom of that theme the following year.”

Ass or clairvoyance?

“Fortunately… but it is also true that in our work it is not difficult to imagine a fertile panorama.”

Letters in a drawer. At least 25 ago. Give me one.

“Written on a cigarette paper, the ones to roll, between two brothers at the front, World War I. The brother in the trench writes to the other who is 2 km away: ‘If it goes well, we’ll see you here tomorrow. If it goes wrong kiss mom, for me.’ The letter was passed from hand to hand in the trenches. Whoever wrote it died that night. His niece sent us the original, eaten away, with the ink washed out, but whole. And still readable. Zero writing value, crazy historical value. We didn’t feel like keeping the original and returned it.”

I am greedy for more unique letters. And Marco shows me one, a declaration of love, with the words written following a spiral. Love makes you dizzy, after all. Is there a length limit?

“An A4 sheet, no more. Because then we read them during the two days of the Festival, and they must last two minutes, maximum three.

Gender percentage?

“67 percent of the mailings we receive are from women.”

More trained to deal with your underwear. What are the Under 14s hiding, apart from the distance from us parents?

“The year of the Letter to my god (the initial deliberately lowercase!), several have arrived where the god was the scales. Especially girls, in fact.”

It would make you smile. Instead it scares.

“In fact, they are letters that give us food for thought. Heavy. Sometimes they are unmentionable confidences. And you, as artistic director, ask yourself: what do I do, notify the parent, or in any case someone who can intervene? Because here is a serious problem. For a couple of years we evaluated collaborating with a sociologist, then we chose not to proceed outside our intention.”

Like in a confessional. Do children also confess?

“Children are very attached to the context. One wrote to Julius Caesar because he was studying it at school. Another to the ladybug, asking her to change color, because her friends were all Inter fans. In terms of numbers, the red ladybugs with black dots are in the minority.”

And they lost the first leg. How important is form in selecting the winners?

“The jury, which changes over time, does not give priority to the stylistic aspect. Anyone who listens to the letters, read by others, immediately understands why. We had many actors interpret them, choosing between cinema and theatre. They receive the writings first, they prepare them, yet on the stage of the Festival someone was moved, stopped, couldn’t go on. Why? They are completely unstructured, and they throw you off balance. Even the jury is in trouble. There are letters with mistakes, even big ones, in grammar, which strike you, leave their mark.”

I think I understand. The truth undermines. And we come to this year. Letter to an influencer.

“Once again we were amazed. To say: letters received by the name from millions of views, Ferragni and the like, not even one. They influence for the dress, the restaurant, the club, but in reality my life goes on for those who, for better or for worse, I meet. Or that they raised me. They affect. One wrote a letter to his grandmother, a poignant text.”

The influence of an ancient generation, very distant from theirs, but intimate. I struggle to think about it. Even if there is the Libra God, to act as a bastian against optimism.

“We all have, whether we like it or not, a need to say something intimate to others. And this need does not have many outlets. When you are creative you have two paths. You can turn on the computer, and do, elaborate, what it puts in front of you, and ultimately forces you to only imagine something that already exists. Or you switch to the sheet and you’re forced to take out yours, the one you’ve stored… Then I don’t think we’ll keep an email for the next two thousand years. What do you say?”

We don’t know. Meanwhile, print, print, print.

“When you read certain letters, you breathe,” Marco Corbani exclaims in silent thought. Breathing understood as: it is worth living. Even for those who spend their days in the same way, and don’t accumulate any memories… But the Festival is also a lot of fun. Letter to a liar: a boy wrote it to the liar, some medicines. On the word people travel.”

When digging, visions come out. The predictable and the conformist, they kick ass.

“And we have a semantic cross-section, from 5 to 97 years old, in my opinion quite realistic.”

He tells me about the four “stupendous” letters written by Gassmann, one dedicated to the city of Rome, read at the Festival, with great coverage in the national press. How he answered a call from an unknown American to find out that he was the nephew of Harvey Milk, the politician played by Sean Penn in the Gus Van Sant biopic. He wanted to give him four letters from his uncle. And they met in Milan. Then a Mickey Mouse number flashes under my eyes. Cover dedicated to the Festival. Open up and there’s the story: The magical day of the found mail. Absolute pop certification.

“Things happen that displace. And they exalt.”

I read there will be out of competition Letters from prison.

“Letters are one of the few things that comes out of prison. And this year we have involved the prison of Busto Arsizio, with the playful diversion of beer made by prisoners, with an unmistakable name: Prison Beer.”

It’s very Mickey Mouse.

“But the letters are heavy, people in 41 bis. Some you can’t tell.”

In short, it is not the sea outside. Even if among the actors who will read there is Ludovica Coscioni, actress of the series. How to invite a pop star. I imagine a crowd of kids outside Villa Clerici.

“Maybe, they are really very popular. The series is set in a juvenile prison, and in my opinion the challenge is to give this girl, who has only acted in prison, a truly written letter from behind bars and see how she will be able to interpret it outside of fiction. ”

Reality written in italics.