Interview With Director Maura Delpero (Vermiglio)

Maura Delpero’s Silver Lion-winning Vermiglio transports audiences to a remote mountain village in 1944, where the war, though physically distant, weighs heavily on everyone’s minds. The arrival of Pietro, a soldier fleeing the conflict, sends shockwaves through the tight-knit community and the village schoolmaster’s family. We spoke with Delpero about the film’s timely themes, the captivating Alpine setting, and its exploration of the complex social dynamics in this rural community. As she explains, to fully embrace her creative vision, she immersed herself in the Vermiglio valley, casting local residents and listening to their stories to capture the authentic feel of this social bubble from another time – completely immersed in nature.

Let’s start with the setting and title – Vermiglio. What drew you to this place, and what special meaning does it hold for you? Is it based on your family history?

The movie was inspired by a dream I had, a very vivid one – almost like a vision – about my father coming to visit me but as a little boy, a five- or six-year-old. He resembled an old photograph of him when he was that age. He was so happy, and I felt relieved, as he was playing in his childhood home in Vermiglio. Then I started to write about him and explore people that I knew very well in a moment of time of which I have no memories – as I wasn’t born. You can see the love that I have for these characters.

So, Vermiglio is a mixture of fiction and documentary, also rooted in my childhood memories and the feelings I had listening to my grandmother’s stories. I wanted to create a film about a large family, to explore how individuals interact within a community, and how personal drives influence others. The movie also talks about a past that I believe is still valid for us. You can see where we come from and where we are now.

And I insisted on capturing this how I wanted to. I was adamant – about certain shots, like shooting the particular snow on that particular valley. I was asked to do it in Italian, not in a dialect, and with famous actors, but I decided to root the film in that area [it was shot in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of Italy] with unknown actors. I wanted to recreate this world in a natural way. That’s why I selected non-professional actors because I wanted to cast ‘mountain children’ – with the accent and certain, specific movements. I spent a lot of time in the valley with people from that area, to rebuild these sensations.

One of the powerful questions the movie raises is, when a soldier returns home, what disdain or solidarity will he face? How do you see this resonating in today’s world?

It’s a very pertinent question today, because we still face it, live it, feel it – racism, problems, tragedies. While the circumstances might differ now, the feelings are the same. Some people in that community [depicted in the film] are afraid of strangers, others think that they’re a source of enrichment. That could not be more relevant today. This phenomenon is especially strong in smaller communities. It’s why I love those places – they are like case studies, revealing human nature in such a clear and direct way, exposing both the strengths and flaws of all of us as human beings.

Congrats on your incredible success at the Venice Film Festival and the film’s selection as an international feature at the Academy Awards. What do these honors and nominations mean to you?

I haven’t fully processed it yet; so much is happening all at once – so many events. Within a month, I received the Silver Lion, the Oscar nomination, and other recognitions, and the Italian theatrical release has been a box-office success and multiple festivals are selecting the film. It’s overwhelming, too much is going on to fully realize [what’s happening]. I am sure I’ll have a better understanding in a few months’; time, but right now it feels big but also rewarding – a recognition of the years of work I’ve put in. Everybody is saying that this is my second film, but the reality is it’s my second official film – I did a lot of documentaries first. It’s been 20 years of working and preparing; this isn’t just coming out of nowhere. It’s the result of steady growth and dedication.

One of the other takeaway themes of the movie is women’s fight for emancipation within the rigid patriarchy of the time – how extraordinary movements can emerge from the fabric of everyday life.

Yes! The film explores the relationship between macrohistory and microhistory – how these ordinary lives intersect with something greater, the mountains and nature itself. They live through extraordinary events that, though we might not want to think it, could happen to any of us at any time. But in the moment, it does not feel epic, they don’t feel like superheroes; they maintain their ordinary lives, while facing reality in an incredible way. It was interesting for me to see these human beings immersed in something bigger than themselves – something that keeps marching on and is indifferent to them.

It’s a romantic perspective on nature, too – romantic in the literary sense, when authors and painters began to understand that we are a tiny component in nature. I’m truly fascinated by how ordinary people live extraordinary lives – extraordinary in their resilience –and how they often do it by holding onto their everyday mindset. That’s not easy. They confront reality, in all its beauty and complexity, in an extraordinary way. I wanted to take a ‘photograph’ of those women that are journeying from the ancient to the modern and look at how they realize that they have the power to shape their own lives. Their story is deeply rooted in that time, in its stillness, but also you cannot avoid feeling that ‘the pot is on fire’ – something new is brewing. I wanted the viewer to feel connected to them, to have the same trains of thought. How would you react to their situation? This is the story of something that could happen to anyone.