music and cinema at the Rome Film Festival 2022

Mahmood arrives at the Auditorium Parco della Musica of the 17th edition of the Rome Film Festival to present the docu / portrait film directed by Giorgio Testi. A film that draws the line between the past and the present of an artist who talked about himself without filters.

Mahmood exposes himself and what he never said, except through musical notes, in the docu/film portrait directed by Giorgio Testi. In the Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone auditorium, in a setting reminiscent of the capital’s cinematic event, Mahmood stages his travel story on the leitmotif of the singer’s Italian and European tour. From the Bataclan in Paris to the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London or the Sala mais in Madrid, via the Alcatraz in Milan or Eurovision. Looks, also using 2d animation. Indispensable in the docu/film the portrait and the family films, to which are added the testimonies of friends, family and colleagues: from Carmen Consoli to Blanco and Dardust. The narration follows the human and artistic journey of Alessandro Mahmoud, for all of us Mahmood.

Photo credits: Teresa Comberiati

The docu/film portrait Mahmood is part of the special sessions of Alice nella Città, whose minutes, 90 minutes to be exact, tell the story of life and the rise to success, told in the first person by the singer . As we have already anticipated, it is a story that moves between Milan and Egypt, the latter, a place that recalls the travels of his childhood, his origins, which keeps its roots firm, but which at the same time merges with this place that has seen him grow up, since he locked himself in the closet of the house, creating fantastic and parallel worlds. Incredible mental journeys in which his dreams were preserved.

Mahmood: ‘It was therapeutic’

Arriving twice first in Sanremo, Mahmood crossed the border with performances that allowed him to tour and conquer the fame that every artist aspires to. It was not at all easy to reach the highest peak and come to terms with an equally difficult past. And it is precisely on Testi’s film that the artist tells the “black and white” of a story that concerns all those who like to dream and feel encouraged for a goal they are trying to achieve.

Photo credits: Teresa Comberiati

“When you decide to make a docufilm about your life and your journey, you have to be sincere and also tell things that are a little more uncomfortable, as I did in relation to the relationship with my father – explains Mahmood during the conference release – It turned out to be a very long trip also useful for me. Sometimes, in order not to think about my problems, I try to blur the memories of the past. The documentary in this sense was therapeutic, it gave me helped to point out certain moments. Of course – comments the singer with a smile – now the others also know them ”.

Photo credits: Teresa Comberiati

Fragility, professional disappointments (such as elimination from X Factor in 2012), difficult times, even recent ones, such as his house destroyed in the Torre dei Moro fire in Milan in 2021, are linked to these opportunities that Mahmood had to start over and the common thread that links the artistic life to the private life is Anna, or the mother who lives in Orosei. Fixed point of his life.