A closer look at the D’Innocenzo Brothers, who won the Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival

We don't want to become that kind of directors who wear a scarf.

That's how Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo describe themselves. Born in Tor Bella Monaca (Roma), the D'Innocenzo twins have set Italian cinema on fire. In 2018 they won the Nastro d'argento with their debut film La terra dell'abbastanza, then collaborated at the script of Dogman by Matteo Garrone. This time they've come back to Berlin International Film Festival to premiere Favolacce, "a dark tale inspired by Italo Calvino and Gianni Rodari" that eventually won the Silver Bear for the Best Script. 

When it comes to Italian cinema, we always talk about the same names: Garrone, Moretti and Virzì, while we always leave Sorrentino for last because we never forgot him for La Grande Bellezza. The clever ones would start to list all the directors that have made the history of Italian cinema in the world, such as Fellini, Rossellini and Pasolini. But when it's time to talk about the new generations, nobody knows what to say. The D'Innocenzo Brothers arrive exactly in this scenario.

Fabio and Damiano have never studied cinema. They grew up following their father, who was a fisherman, and they made their first cinematographic experiments as amateurs while working here and there as a waiter or a delivery guy. That means: while they were living in the so-called "real world". In fact, that "real world" has inspired them to tell their stories and have caught the attention of both the public and the critics: when they first came out with La terra dell’abbastanza (a particular portrait of Rome's suburbs), everybody started to talk about a new wave of "suburban neorealism" contaminated by the lessons of Wes Anderson and David Lynch.

We could say the same about Favolacce, where the two twin-brothers portrayed their particular suburb: a world made of townhouses paddling pools, of mediocrity and ignorants, a suburb that is not even so poor to become a matter of some interest, but that is actually just boring. The perfect scenario for some of the most tragic episodes of crime news. "Our film is like 'American Beauty', but without 'American' and without 'Beauty'" they told while in Berlin. The protagonist is played by Elio Germano, styling a speedo from the very first scene (as every provincial man actually do).

Driven by their love for art, the two brothers in 2019 published two books. The first one is a collection of poems called Mia Madre è un’arma (My Mother Is a Weapon); the second one is Farmacia notturna, a photo-book in collaboration with Gucci. Their photographs are definitely unconventional and inspired by the street-photography and the new aesthetic of social media, trying to steal scenes from reality. But their reality is non-realistic: on the contrary, it's always cool, maybe a little posing, made of adidas jackets, blue eyes and guys wearing earrings. It's the same fashioned-reality that make their movies so fascinating.

It's no coincidence that among the first ones to notice their work there's been Gucci: the D'Innocenzo Brothers, with their "aesthetic of the ugly" completely matched the taste of Alessandro Michele. Thanks to this collaboration, all of a sudden Fabio and Damiano started to wear customized Gucci outfits, have been published on the pages of Vogue (25 ways to Gucci: Famiglie contemporanee nella città eterna) and have been invited to the biggest fashion events of last season, posing right next to A$ap Rocky and Harry Styles.

"In the first film we explored the world of two young folks; in this one, we looked at families, but from the eyes of the children; in the next one we will explore the adult world and it will be a thriller", they told while in Berlin. Someone suggests that they're also working on a tv series. Vogue stated that they'll be working soon on an all-female western set in the 1800s. We don't know what's the truth, but in the meantime, they're winning the best awards in cinema, they're dressing with the biggest Italian brand in the world and keep on speaking like they're two scamps. But they swear that they're still not wearing a scarf. Don't stop them now.

Favolacce is coming to Italian cinemas on April, 16 and will be distributed by Vision Distribution.