MODERATED BY IFF’S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR TOMMASO CAMMARANO

As part of this year’s Italian Film Festival focus on the work of the beloved actor, screenwriter, and director Massimo Troisi, we are thrilled to present this free virtual talk with Anna Pavignano.

Anna Pavignano was Troisi’s long-time collaborator, co-writing many of his most celebrated films. Anna Pavignano was born in Borgomanero, in the Piedmont region of Italy. A psychology student, she began to approach the mainstream in the late 1970s through Non stop on Rai 1, a tv show that launched many new comedians. There in 1977 she met Massimo Troisi, with whom she began a long and prolific professional relationship as well as a romantic relationship collaborating as a screenwriter on some of his most well-known films, such as Ricomincio da tre (1981), Scusate il ritardo (1983), Le vie del Signore sono finite (1987), Pensavo fosse amore… invece era un calesse (1991), and Il postino (1994), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. The latter was directed by British filmmaker Michael Radford, with whom she also collaborated on more recent films such as Elsa & Fred (2014) and La musica del silenzio (2017). After her separation from Troisi, she continued to write screenplays for various films, and in 2007, she made her debut as a writer with the book Da domani mi alzo tardi followed by other works such as In bilico sul mare and La Svedese.