Vania Traxler, the Lady of auteur cinema who brought the great directors to traditional cinemas – Corriere.it

“Auteur cinema was mostly confined to film clubs, we brought it to traditional cinemas and in a certain sense we invented a new audience”. In no particular order, Almodovar, Kusturica, Fassbinder, Wenders, Tavernier, Kaurismaki, Varda, Kieslowski, Spike Lee, Baz Luhrmann and many other signatures.

She brought them to Italy, Vania Traxler. You took the authors out of the cellars and brought them into the great halls, when they dictated the law. A Milanese who grew up in Bologna, of Jewish origin, heir to an important family of exhibitors, producers and distributors, her grandfather met the Lumière brothers: «He projected films on white canvases in squares and circus tents, Gorni Kramer’s father performed the music and Arnoldo Mondadori was the narrator».

Vania is told in the book We dreamed at the cinema (ed.Sabinae), the result of conversations with Francesca Boschiero and Giovanni B.Gifuni.

Launched the debuts of Rupert Everett, Colin Firth,
Kate Winslet;
My left foot anointed Daniel Day-Lewis. In Rome he had a cinema, the Alcazar, “the first where seats were reserved”, sung Mass was officiated, he made mainstream auteur cinema: it opened with The fleeting moment. In vain he asked Fellini to change the title to Interview (“it looked like a documentary to me”); Rohmer was “an innovator who gave voice to independent, complex, even fragile young women”.

It all began at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, where «with my husband, Manfredi Traxler, I went to look for films for the first price list of the new distribution company, Academy Pictures. Manfredi saw me as delicate, blonde, a little suffering, she said I was a woman of marble. She promised me a ruby ​​ring. I told him, forget the ring, give me a gift Maria Braun’s wedding». Today the films remain for a few days, except for blockbusters, Checco Zalone and some exploits.

«I took it The sky above Berlin by Wim Wenders, friends told me this time you screwed up; he stayed at the Capranichetta for nine months!” Vania tells about her first husband, Merk Ricordi, aka Teddy Reno: «I did a small part for him in the film Sanremo-The great challengewhere Mina, Modugno and Adriano Celentano perform».

She has a passion for cooking, dinners for her film releases are famous, the book ends with her recipes. There is also the wild boar which now, with the opening of hunting in the city, can come in handy. The Lady of Italian cinema, when films were the prerogative of men.