Tinny Andreatta, if you had to capture your childhood in a photo, which one would you choose?
“I, a little girl, was lying under the blanket with the book Heart in my hand and moving.”
Why “hiding under the covers”?
“For in my house, tearful fairy tales without happy endings were viewed with suspicion. The mother came from Trieste, the father from Trento: the Austro-Hungarian spirit enforced strictness. But at the same time it gave a great idea of freedom.”
Eleonora “Tinny” Andreatta is Vice President of Italian Content at Netflix: To be clear, she is the one who will decide how we will spend our evenings in the coming months. But she was also the first female director of Rai Fiction, who signed productions such as Inspector Montalbano and Imma Tataranni. However, Tinny is a friendly captain.
Also thanks to the fairytale name everyone calls her?
“A beautiful story that tells the love between my father Beniamino and my mother Giana.”
He, a future (three-time) minister, she, a sophisticated psychoanalyst, went to the cinema in India to see a Tagore fairy tale. The protagonist was Princess Tinny.
“Perhaps that’s why I’ve loved fairy tales since childhood. Calvino, Dahl, Rodari».
Is it true that when you were a girl you ran away to watch serious movie reviews?
“Let’s say I ran away as quickly as I could to go to the movies. But the actual show was staged by my father at home when I was a child.
What has he done?
“For example, we were able to place the swing in the middle of the hallway. My parents gave us the freedom to play, even if it meant turning the house upside down. When they received guests, they passed through real childhood fortresses. It was a big mess, but what great memories.”
Is there a love for every form of history here?
“I think so, which is what led me first to Rai and now here to Netflix. In the middle is the University of Bologna, professors like Ezio Raimondi, lessons like Umberto Eco’s. Then America, the courses at the Italian studies department at UCLA, where Raimondi was a visiting professor. Contacts with the world of cinema”.
When she returned to Italy she decided to work in productions. First Experience, Academy Pictures.
“Which was driven by a woman, Vania Traxler. Someone who amazed everyone with his intuition, but also someone who, when there was a poster to hang, took off his shoes and climbed onto the chair.
What’s the hardest thing about driving while watching Netflix?
“Knowing that you have a large and demanding audience. But not only. There is no longer a single stream, that is, a flood that flows from the United States to Europe and thus to Italy, but there are Italian products that are expanding and conquering other markets. This means making series and films that don’t just “appeal” to us.
After watching Nanni Moretti’s film, we know that you “speak” to 190 countries.
“That’s why the stories we produce must have different ingredients: humanity and also a universal quality.” Just think of the series about Lidia Poet, the first Italian woman lawyer: it’s a story from our homeland, but the problem of women in the world of work affects the whole world. And then enough with the clichés, I want to tell a different Italy, with more nuances.”
You brought “My Brilliant Friend” to Rai 1: Can you tell us who Elena Ferrante is here?
“(laughs) Even if I knew, I wouldn’t say.”
He found it again on Netflix with “The Lying Life of Adults”.
“Ferrante is an excellent example of how to “raise the bar”: starting from a visionary world rich in life and truth to arrive at a powerful, sometimes shocking narrative.”
Even when she was with Rai, they said she was able to raise the bar.
“After a few years at the company, I had made some notes about how I thought the world of fiction should evolve. The then general director, Gubitosi, read them and called me to him in mid-August. I came to him with sandals full of sand and thought, ‘He’s going to fire me.’ He made me a director.”
What did he claim in these notes?
“That seriality must not be afraid of cultural complexity, that different sensitivities must be taken into account.”
In fact, it hits several chords on Netflix. From “Everything begs for redemption” by Daniele Mencarelli to “Supersex”, the story by Rocco Siffredi (coming soon).
“None of the strings are easy to touch. Empathy and provocation. That’s why we have to do things well. My father often gave me the example of the stonemasons who built the Milan Cathedral: he claimed that they not only executed the visible part perfectly, but also the part that in theory would have been accessible only to God and pigeons. I have always tried to do this.
Learning to see the invisible, a skill that belonged to another of his masters, Umberto Eco.
“I remember his wonderful lessons in which he taught us not only to see but also to listen. At home, Netflix is enriching because you are exposed to dozens of different cultures.”
And what is Don Matteo like?
“Terence Hill is a true anti-star: he is extremely popular and maintains his strict secrecy. And he also has a strong secular interest in spirituality.”
A woman who particularly impressed you?
“My goodness, so many. Where should I start? By Cristiana Capotondi, who has such a big heart? By Francesca Archibugi, who is very good? At least like Francesca Comencini. From Vanessa Scalera, who amazed us all when she quickly became Imma Tataranni? Or from Francesca Cima, who is an exceptional producer?
How would you define yourself?
“I like the title of this series, Captains. I think I’m a captain of possible worlds. The imagined ones and the concrete ones, the ones where you have to struggle with difficulties and the ones where you can also enjoy the successes that come from them.”