Serena Trivelloni: On Activism, Cinema, and Truth in Italy

You wear many hats: a political and investigative  journalist, film critic, and a human rights activist. Could you tell us more? How do these different roles fit together in your life and work?

I am a journalist and human-rights activist, and for almost ten years I’ve worked at the heart of political and institutional communication, serving several public institutions. Politics, in its original ancient Greek sense, isn’t just what I do; it’s who I am. It’s the way I stay connected to people, to society, and to the world around me.

As a journalist, I’ve covered complex and deeply human issues: organized crime, illegal trafficking, climate change. Most recently, on November 12th, I presented the documentary How to Poison a Planet by Katrina McGowan at the Italian Senate, together with several members of Parliament, Robert Bilott, Gary Douglas, and Mark Ruffalo, to raise public awareness about PFAS, the infamous “forever chemicals” featured in Dark Waters.

It was a special, almost sacred day. For the first time in a long while, I felt truly protected, surrounded by people who have devoted their lives to fighting for what is right. Rob, Gary, Katrina, Mark… they are extraordinary human beings whose “being for others” shines through every action and every choice.

It’s not a coincidence that I decided to become a journalist after watching Spotlight, with a remarkable Mark Ruffalo, and Show Me a Hero, with an equally moving Oscar Isaac. (And yes, the Maalox he constantly takes in the series? I really do take them after too many meetings with politicians!)

I’m also deeply involved in nonprofit work, organizing institutional conferences on women’s rights for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, on labor rights, and on cultural development across Italy. It’s simply my way of giving back and my personal approach to life.

Serena Trivelloni at the Italian Senate with Mark Ruffalo for the presentation of How to Poison a Planet

As a film critic, you say you're an "outsider." What's the core of your criticism philosophy?

Cinema is in my DNA, and I believe it is a key catalyst for social change. The dialogue between culture and institutions has become fragile, almost strained, and I feel the need to rebuild that bridge through the art I love most.

As a film critic and member of the Italian National Union of Film Critics (SNCCI), I write for several magazines and attend national and international film festivals, places where cultures, ideas, and visions come together.

For me, a review is never just a review. I try to step into the director’s mindset, to breathe in the actor’s intention, to reveal the invisible work behind the lens and the power of the message hidden in every detail.

At heart, yes I’m an outsider. Labels don’t suit me. I don’t belong to intellectual circles, and I don’t believe criticism exists to judge the “power” of a film. I prefer to slip in through a small opening, quietly, to bring forward the director’s social and cultural intention, and maybe even what they didn’t realize they had expressed.

I always hope to leave something meaningful with the audience.

And in interviews, I try never to be superficial - which is why being on the other side of the questions now makes me a bit nervous. Writing, like cinema, is for me a form of art, truth and identity.

What drew you to join 7 Dwarfs at Auschwitz as an associate producer, and why do you think it’s important to tell this story now?

In recent years, I’ve returned to cinema as a pure expression of culture, because I needed it, and because I believe it’s one of the few things that can help us survive the brutality of the world around us.

I recently accepted the role of Associate Producer on 7 Dwarfs at Auschwitz, directed by Stefano Veneruso, produced by Barbara di Mattia’s 30 Miles Film, and written by Anna Pavignano because I have deep faith in independent, resilient filmmaking. It’s not easy, in Italy or abroad, to withstand the blows aimed at the heart of culture. But Stefano and Barbara, who are family to me as much as they are professionals I deeply admire, prove that outstanding cinema can still be made through determination alone, without surrendering to compromise.

The story of the Ovitz family, the “Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz,” Romanian artists who survived the concentration camps thanks to the beauty of their art, is a true and incredibly powerful one. And I can’t imagine a more necessary message for this moment in history.

I’m working to bring this project overseas, which for Stefano and Barbara would feel almost like coming home, after many years working in the United States with filmmakers like for example Ridley Scott and Spike Lee. I believe this is the right moment to strengthen the cultural bond between our two countries. Resistance, in its most human and noble meaning, is something that has always connected us. Many Hollywood artists, independent and mainstream, feel the same urgency to express something authentic, necessary, meaningful.

My hope is to meet more and more human beings behind the camera, people whose courage and vision can spark new collaborations.

You say that “today’s cinema should be Massimo Troisi”. What does that mean in an age of blockbuster franchises and algorithm-driven streaming platforms?

Yes, there is a special bond that connects me to Stefano, a bond shaped by Massimo Troisi. You may remember him for Il Postino – The Postman, the 1994 masterpiece celebrated with five Academy Award nominations and an Academy Award win, two years after his death.

I was only six years old when Massimo passed away, but today I see so much of him reflected in who I am: the courage to break political and cultural patterns, the boldness to cross the ocean to share a new and deeply personal way of living and communicating, one that has never been replicated since.

Stefano Veneruso and Serena Trivelloni

Massimo embodied truth in cinema, a truth he carried into his life as well. He fought compromise and remained profoundly loyal to himself.

So if you ask me what cinema should be today, I’ll tell you, “Cinema should be Massimo Troisi”. Many actors, even internationally, could learn from the authenticity of his artistic model.

This is why, together with Stefano (his nephew) and Barbara, I am working on a long-term project to bring “Troisi’s philosophy” into institutions and, i hope, into schools, so that his voice continues to inspire.

I don’t know if my dream of a more just society will ever come true. What I do know is that I hope this dream carries me far, toward new places and toward extraordinary human beings I have yet to meet.

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