Italian director Tato complains about media quarries

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">NEW DELHI: Anna Maria Tato, director of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">I Remember, Yes I Remember,</span> at the on-going International Film Fesitval here, on Friday complained that media personnel hurl her with lengthy questions even without watching her film.<br />She said press conferences irritate her as journalists who haven''t even seen the film load her with questions.<br />"See, English is not my language.I get lost with long questions in English. Keep the questions short, or else I will start talking in Italian," said the director.<br />Tato''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">I Remember, Yes I Remember</span> is a biographical documentary in which famous Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni goes on with his memories. Tato was the actor''s companion for more than 20 years.<br />The festival is paying a rich tribute to the Italian great with a special retrospective on his films which started off with Tato''s memoir.<br />Speaking about the film, Tato said, "He (Mastroianni) was no doubt spontaneous. But you could never be sure. He was such a great actor, what we think as spontaneous might have been acting."<br />Mastroianni''s passion for Chekhov, his love for architecture and his interest in science fiction films, all finds a place in the film.<br />"He would start talking, and would just keep going on if the subject happened to be close to his heart, say Chekhov, and I would coerce the producer to not interrupt him and shoot it in one take, she recalled. <br />Knowing Mastroianni so well was an advantage in making the film as she could prompt him speak on certain topics that would help people know him better, said Tato.<br />"I would ask him: Marcello, do you remember," and he would just take off from there," she said.<br />"It wasn''t so well known that he liked science fiction. I prompted him to speak on the subject, and he went on to recollect how the sci-fi flick ''Bladerunner'' affected him."<br />According to Tato, Mastroianni, who was 72 during the making of the film, used to say memory was very important for him, as he says in the film while talking about ''Bladerunner.''<br />"Look at the suffering of the people. It is so because they have no memory."<br />The film was first made in a shorter version, which was more intimate, said Tato, as it dealt more with his life and relationships.<br />She later made the longer three-and-a-half hour edition, that encompassed his cinematic career also.<br />It has been satisfactory for Tato to have made a stretched-out version of the film. "I remember, the film was shown at the Lincoln Centre, jam-packed with 2800 people, who gave a standing ovation to the film." </div> </div>