As I live in Italy I cannot say I was completely taken by surprise to find such beauty surrounding Civitella. But I was not expecting such a warm atmosphere. I had planned spending my five weeks’ stay writing a screenplay, a first-time adaptation of a novel (“Yesterday” by Agota Kristof), in collaboration with Doriana Leondeff with whom I wrote two previous screenplays. This is what happened, in spite of my residency time being eroded by some previous commitments: we completed a first draft. I almost feel like adding: alas. Alas because in such a place, with such scenery, in that different time-rhythm, among those stones exuding history, the splendid people we met, both Doriana and I felt the urge to just cancel all dutiful engagements and abandon ourselves to other experiences. Observing, listening, reading, thinking, day-dreaming, visiting, talking, letting new ideas come to birth, sleeping… We could not, perhaps I dared not. Or perhaps the screenplay for my new film needed to take shape in exactly this manner, taking advantage of that time, those birdsongs, those long talks over dinner, those mornings filled with sun.

Translated from the Italian by Lella Heins