ÉCU FILM FESTIVAL, 2025
Alessandro Giovanni Lunghi
those who love me follow me
Festival Screening
7 Parnassiens – Grande Salle
11, May 2025
Session 7 - 16:22
April, 24, 2025
When 8-year old Adom performs a holy miracle in his small Texas town, his mother Daniela is forced to fight against her church, her husband, and the community in order to protect him from media and religious exploitation.
Hi Alessandro, thank you for talking with The New Current. Are you looking forward to screening Those Who Love Me Will Follow Me at ÉCU this May?
I am very happy to present the movie at ECU, I love Paris and I am very excited to go back.
What does it mean to you to have Those Who Love Me Will Follow Me nominated in the Best World Student Category?
It is a great category because it’s open to all the world and not simply to Europe making it even more competitive. I am very curious to see what the other filmmakers have made.
What has it meant to you to see you film get such a positive reaction so far?
I think reactions to a movie are always relative. It’s a great feeling to have people watch your work and talk about it, and I genuinely appreciate every opportunity to share the film with a new audience. I’m always curious to hear what people think and feel, whether the reactions are positive or negative. I find positive reactions encouraging and negative reactions more entertaining. If someone is still thinking about the film after it’s over, even for a little while, then I feel like I’ve done my job.
How important are festivals like ÉCU in champion and supporting independent films and filmmakers?
ECU certainly does something that I appreciate, because it tries to find the best independent movies around and then tries to give them as much press and attention as they can. That is good way to make your festival a real useful experience for filmmakers. It is a good opportunity for any independent filmmaker.
Can you tell me a little bit about how Those Who Love Me Will Follow Me came about, what was the inspiration behind your screenplay?
“Those Who Love Me Will Follow Me” really came out of two very different but strangely connected sources of inspiration. One was Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, specifically a moment in which one of the characters is writing a story where Christ reappears, performs a miracle, and is instantly recognized by everyone. That image — the sudden presence of something sacred in a progressively more secularized world — stayed with me.
The other inspiration was a provocative Italian jeans ad from the 1970s by Oliviero Toscani. It featured a close-up of someone wearing very short jeans, with the slogan 'Chi mi ama mi segua' (in English, Those who love me will follow me), a biblical quote. It caused a huge controversy in Italy at the time because it marked a moment when capitalism blatantly appropriated religious language and imagery for profit. I have a difficult relationship with religion myself, but I’ve always been fascinated by how capitalism has the power to absorb even our deepest spirituality and spits out a superficial and sensational version of it.
In the film, that tension is visually represented by the divine light that opens the movie and that is echoed by the artificial light of a television studio at the end. It’s about how we search for meaning, for hope, for something sacred in a world that constantly commodifies everything.
How important is the creative collaboration between you and your co-writer Ailsh Elzy once your film starts shooting?
When I start shooting, I let my actors be my main screenwriters, Once I start shooting, I really let the actors become the main screenwriters. So, by that point, Ailish’s work was largely done. I believe a solid script is essential to prepare a film, but once we’re on set, it’s the actors, their instincts, their emotional truth, that shape the movie. Their personal experiences and interpretations it’s what matters.
That said, Ailish’s contribution before shooting was absolutely crucial. I chose to work with her because she’s not only an incredibly smart and intuitive writer, but also a true cinephile with a deep sensitivity. She brought her own lived experience as an African American woman in the U.S., which was something I, as an Italian, simply couldn’t fully access on my own. My understanding of America was limited, and Ailish guided me to make sure my film stayed honest, clear, and also respectful in how we portrayed the Black experience in the film. Her voice was essential in building that foundation.
What was the hardest scene for you to write and direct?
As a filmmaker I think my main weakness at this point is writing and directing scenes that contain violence. It’s its own skill and it touches specific chords. Violence is something that I am truly fascinated about, but it is very far from my personality. I am attracted to it, but also extremely uncomfortable. When my main character grabs a knife to defend her kid, I think the scene does not hit as I wanted too. It shows all my insecurity about violence. It’s something I am still trying to figure out.
Looking back now is there anything you would have done differently on Those Who Love Me Will Follow Me?
Almost everything! I cannot rewatch a movie of mine without thinking how many things I would change. I think it is normal. The movies we make are a reflection of who we are in that moment, and the person that made Those Who Love Me it is not the same person I am today. In the meantime I got married, I travelled around South America for months and now I am a few months deep into a documentary about the American prison system that is changing my entire perception of life. So, too many things have changed for me not to feel very differently about the way I approached this movie.
Where did your passion for filmmaking come from?
When I was a kid, I didn’t really like movies all that much. I watched cartoons, but they didn’t hypnotise me the way they did for some other kids. My love for cinema began when I was 14. I felt very lonely and frustrated at the time, and I was actively searching for a way to communicate, a form of expression that truly fit me. I tried music, literature, and painting, but none of them stuck. Then one day, I watched Taxi Driver, and it shook me deeply. The next day, I watched La Strada by Fellini, and then Annie Hall by Woody Allen. After those couple of days, I knew I was going to make movies.
You’re based in Texas but are from Italy, how much does your life and experience in Italy help inform your filmmaking style?
I It’s a huge part of who I am. I grew up in a mostly Southern Italian family, which comes with a very specific and unique culture. In many ways, I was partially raised by the great Italian thinkers and artists who shaped my way of seeing the world — Pasolini, Carmelo Bene, Bertolucci, Anna Magnani, Umberto Eco, Visconti, Fellini, Fabrizio De André, Francesco Guccini, Moravia, Alda Merini...These figures were fundamental in my life. I truly can’t imagine my teenage years without their voices, they’re the backbone of my personality.
Italy has a complex and fascinating culture, with a majestic artistic legacy, and that is deeply rooted in me. But Texas is now my home. From Americans, I’ve learned a great deal, I admire their brave pragmatism, their belief that anything is possible, for better or worse, and their fantastic tendency towards the myth. Everything here turns into something almost mythical. I love their energy, the strong convictions, and the extremes that come with this culture. And of course,
I met my wife here, she’s originally from Texas, and through her, I’ve learned a lot about the ‘American way.’
How different is your approach to your filmmaking since your debut short Io, che nella notte abito solo?
It’s very different now, because I was 20 at the time, and I’m 28 today, and in those eight years, a lot has changed. I experience movies differently, and I experience life differently. Back then, I was mostly depressed and angry, and I didn’t know how to direct that anger toward anything productive. Now, I’m much happier. That anger still exists, but it’s been reshaped, it’s channeled into political and social issues that matter to me.
My frustration has evolved into a deeper acceptance of myself, and the anger I once carried is now mixed with empathy. That combination allows me to approach things in a much more thoughtful and, I believe, more interesting way.
What has been the most valuable lessons you have taken from making Those Who Love Me Will Follow Me and how will these lessons guide you with future projects?
The importance of research before shooting was something fairly new for me. In the past, I was used to writing characters whose lives were similar to mine, and I felt comfortable doing so without needing much research. But for this film, I had to immerse myself in a history and a culture that were, in many ways, unfamiliar to me. The amount of study, questioning, and reflection I did for this short is unlike anything I’ve done before — and I believe that effort really shows in the film.
"....Movies are not little stories that you can tell, they are not plots, metaphors or ideas, they are just what is in front of the camera and around the actors."
What do your films say about you and the way you see the world?
Fantastic question, but very hard to answer about oneself. I think every choice that a director’s make follows their sensitivity and their idea of the world. I have opinions about my own way of seeing the world, but I really feel unsure about answering because I know for a fact that whatever I answer will change soon with my life. I have my own personality and life changes me often as I discover new parts of the world and of myself, so my movies will just be the results of these new realizations mixed with my past experiences.
What has been the best advice you’ve been given by a fellow filmmaker?
I might have to cheat and mention a quote that wasn’t directly given to me but the quote attributed to Antonioni that says: "A film you can explain in words is not a real film." has been a huge driving factor in my attitude about filmmaking. It made me realize that movies are about the moments, the actors and the situations they are in, Movies are not little stories that you can tell, they are not plots, metaphors or ideas, they are just what is in front of the camera and around the actors. A movie is a space, a person, an emotion, a relationship, but it has nothing to do with the facts that happen in it.
And finally, what is the message you would like your audiences to take from Those Who Love Me Will Follow Me?
It’s hard to say, because I don’t really enjoy talking about my own films in this way or setting specific expectations for them. I just hope the audience takes something from it, whatever that may be. Ideally, I hope the film stays with them longer than its actual runtime, that it lingers in some way. If it sparks political, religious, or social conversations, I’d be very curious to hear them.