It’s Palermo Pride day! There will be over 11 floats that will cross the city through the colorful and energetic procession that will wind its way from via Roma (concentration at 3 pm), continuing along via Cavour, via Ruggiero Settimo until arriving in the evening at the Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa. The claim of the event is “There anger is not enough for us”, a strong and decisive message about male chauvinist and patriarchal violence. For the occasion, we interviewed Simona Malatoacclaimed Sicilian actress nominated for the 2024 Silver Ribbons, who this year plays the role of godmother of the event.
“Simona, how does it feel to be the godmother of Palermo Pride?”
“Having a role sometimes makes you think of a commitment but for me this invitation, which I received on the spot from one of the brightest, farsighted and prefigurative souls of the coordination of Palermo Pride, Luigi Carollo, is a privilege. Having the opportunity to reflect on things, which is something that is lacking in today’s society. There is no time for reflection, no time to ask questions. I feel honored but I also feel protected, because more than godmother I feel like a daughter of Pride, protected by Pride. I’m happy that there is a Pride in my city, I feel safer for my daughters. It is clear that we as a society must claim to have rights that can leave us free to choose, for ourselves and for our children. Demonstrations like Pride are the vital part of society, they are a joyful shout that we all make among ourselves and to ourselves, because joy is a contagion and can change things!”.
When asked what his personal memory related to Pride is, he tells us:
“One year, precisely in 2015 I think, I decided to come to Pride with my daughters and they wanted to dress as butterflies. Even then, so small, they immediately realized that this parade, this colorful expressiveness, was something that brought crazy energy. Then they remember the noise, we had to abandon the procession. But today, when they have grown up, they tell me that they felt strong together with the people walking down the street. Let’s remember the noise that a single claim, a slogan, can make, which is not petrified but which is in our bodies, which is in our saying ‘I dress as a butterfly to say what I feel, to go and defend what I believe in’. Being someone’s voice, as can happen to me when I play roles of women who anonymously experience the violence they suffer, without being able to compare themselves with anyone, feeling completely alone. Well, for me taking part in Pride means giving a voice to those who don’t have one. On June 22nd the Palermo Pride procession will start from via Roma and will arrive crossing the city sparkling through the city up to the zisa I invite you all to participate in this procession I invite everyone to be infected by the joy and the strong need to say no to all all types of discrimination and with joy because anger is not enough for us.”
Speaking about her future projects, Simona revealed to us:
“I just finished shooting a film which is a first work by Giuseppe William Lombardo, a black and white film shot in anamorphic. I always get excited about these kinds of slightly outside projects that I love very much! It is a film that talks about the sins of fathers that fall on their children. I am a mother who is a bit of an angel, a bit of a soul. I really love taking part in first works, especially in cinema, which is an area in which I still feel like a neophyte because I come from the theatre. In fact, it is precisely in the theater that I will return shortly with a project that will open the season of the Sala Strehle of the Teatro Biondo in Palermo, directed by Cinzia Maccagnano and a text by Beatrice Morroi, about which I will not anticipate anything but I am very happy to be working in this group of women. Then, I will be involved in another very experimental project, halfway between fiction and documentary by Luca Lucchesi, and within this project we have the cuddle and paternal eye of Wim Wenders. I’m super excited and very happy, I never feel calm when the things I do are calm and calm. I always like to be in agitated, experimental and crazy situations. I meet these souls and I feel alive!”.
