Mid-August Lunch

Born in 1949, in Rome, Gianni Di Gregorio graduated in direction and acting at the Accademia di Arte Sceniche in Rome and worked as a director and actor for the theatre. He then started working in the cinema and wrote in 1986 the script of Sembra morto ma è solo svenuto. After several other works as scriptwriter, he met Matteo Garrone and became his assistant director in Estate Romana, L'Imbalsamatore, Primo amore. In 2007, he co-wrote the script of Garrone's Gomorra, awarded at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. Pranzo di ferragosto is his first feature film."As a single child, I had to deal with my mother alone. She was a widow with a strong personality who lived in her own world. Although shaken, I loved the vitality and power of the world of "the old". But I also saw their solitude and their vulnerability in a world which is moving too fast, which has forgotten its history and lost the sense of continuity of time. During the summer of 2000, the manager of the building I lived in, who knew I had debts, really did suggest that I should look after his mother during the summer holidays. With a surge of dignity I refused, but since then I have often wondered what would have happened if I had accepted. For the actresses I chose two ladies who had never acted in their lives. Their contribution, in terms of spontaneity and truth, was a determining factor. I played the lead role because when I was explaining to the crew that we needed a mature more or less alcoholic man who had lived with his mother for years, everyone looked at me".