Vincenzo Ferrera is one of the protagonists of the cult RAI series Mare Fuori and while waiting to see the fifth season he visited the BCT Benevento Cinema Televisione talking about the news of the series but also about his other projects.
He is Sicilian, and his passion always remains first, theater. The eyes light up, Vincenzo Ferrerawhen he talks about it, perhaps even more than the usual questions about Sea outside, which gave him great popularity at the age of 50, waiting for the fifth season. This is confirmed by people who want a selfie and a hello to Beneventowhere the actor met the public in the square on the occasion of BCT Benevento Cinema Television. He also met some journalists, to confirm the debt of gratitude and love for Mare fuori, of which we have already told you the news of the fifth season, and whose filming is underway. “Rebirth, re-foundation and freshness”, thus defines, with three adjectives, the new season arriving next year.
Such a success that many confuse him with his character, Beppe Romanoa juvenile prison educator told in the phenomenon series produced by Rai Fiction e Picomedia. An empathetic character who is always understanding with the problematic kids, who contributed to building that added value that made Sea outside a phenomenon. The possibility of bring parents and children closer together for the first time, who watch each episode together. So the educational element certainly has a solid importance.”
An important partnership is the one that links Ferrera with the director of Sea outside, Carmine Elia, with which he also created other innovative fiction. “We try to educate the generalist television audience about something new, experiments made possible by the success achieved, experimenting and sometimes doing well, sometimes less,” she declared. “With all due respect to the cornerstones of Rai1, try to do Survivors it meant something new, genre-bending, even difficult and provocative. There is not only a murder and the detective’s investigation, but there can be something adventurous, like i superheroes in We Are Legend. Why can platforms do these things and generalist television can’t? Is it a question of money? That’s not true, we have shown that it can be done in an honorable manner. Come Belcantothe costume series about opera singing during the riots of ’48, filming of which ended a few weeks ago. I’ve seen some images and they are beautiful”.
But isn’t it that the public, even that of public television, is further ahead than we think? “I think so too, it’s a fear of productions, it’s easy. I notice it when the plot is always the same, everything is resolved in comedy and with the resolution of the case. It seems to me there are many cases like this in Italy, it’s a bit easy to play. You will find this structure accommodating and relaxing, but she is ready for something different, she needs to be educated. Otherwise the platforms wouldn’t exist, which I don’t think are only seen by 7 or 8 year olds. It takes more courage and creativity, I notice a bit of laziness on the part of Italian screenwriters”.
Thanks to the success of Sea outside it often happens to Ferrera to meet a large audience, as happened in Benevento. “The success of Mare fuori was explosive, something unthinkable. I think the incredible message of re-education, of hope, arrived. People have realized that there are kids in our cities who are experiencing the same tragedy in a real way. Whoever stops me wants to hug me, because Beppe’s character does this very often. They feel reassured, they want to see him as a father or an uncle. It’s something unforgettable for me. A split has been created, most people think I’m a real educator. And this is a problem for me, they invite me to prisons to debates with educators, but I know little about it, I had to study. It is a key through which a door has opened and the educators now thank me. We have become colleagues,” he concluded, smiling.
But the first passion, the theater? “I would like to go back, even if in Italy they say that if you go back to the theater it means you don’t work much in television. Fortunately at this moment in my life I don’t find the time to do it, I wouldn’t have the possibility to go on tour. But it’s something I think I can do, and with more joy, because I think today I can put on a show where people come to see me and not the company. I have worked in the past for years with Servillo and Martone. It’s the thing that amuses me the most, theatre, on stage I consider myself more of an actor than on television.”
