WEBVTT

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First of all, I'm very happy to be here.

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I'm very honored to come here and show

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the film here at Cannes and I think this is

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a a great movie for the festival because

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it's a story not just of a very iconic

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person, but it's a story of love. It's a

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story of of dreams. And it's

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basically taking a man who's you know

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many people know about but basically

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telling

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showing what can happen a person who has

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impossible dreams and hangs on to them

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and how impossible love can actually

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change us. So I think it's a very

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inspiring story and great to tell it

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here. So I'm Rico Simonini. I'm

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originaire de New York, de Brooklyn

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New York. And my background in

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cinema goes back to sitting as a little

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kid watching movies with my mom. We used

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to we my father was a restaurant

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nightclub guy and he wouldn't come home

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till probably like till the next morning

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8 9:00 a.m. and my mom and I would watch

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old movies with Humphrey Bogart, Gary

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Cooper, Tyron Power, Clark Gable. So I

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loved movies since then. And I love the

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idea of telling a story and how you can

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actually be transported transformed by

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watching films. And that's what got me

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interested in doing films and and

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learning about theater and studying. And

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and as I progressed in my other

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career, which not too many people know

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about yet, I was introduced to theater

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by so many people, by people I've worked

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with, people I helped, people I've

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treated, people I've cured. And I've

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realized that theater and cinema is is

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another way as an art form that could

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reach people and transform people. So me

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I love the idea of being able to do that

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on stage or on camera.

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Cinema is a way to as a boy we were poor

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but by watching cinema I could be in any

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part of the world. I could be in any

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situation. I I could be I could

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experience things. And it allows people

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to actually dream and hope and and and

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and and learn. And that's to me is one

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of the most important mediums to try to

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get out to people because you sit there

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and you for two hours you're transported

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somewhere and when and if it's a good

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film when you come back you're a little

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bit different. I think that's what what

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cinema does. It gives us that

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opportunity to change people just a

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little bit.

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Cinema might be one of the few hopes to

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enlighten humanity, especially now we're

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in an era where people don't read

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anymore. People don't have time to sit

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there and and appreciate different kinds

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of art. That cinema is a way we could

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people could sit down and learn about

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history, learn about humanity, learn

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about our potential, learn about our

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dark side, learn about our light side.

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And I think this is one of the few

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mediums where everyone still buys into

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watching and buys into appreciating. And

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you could change the world. You could

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change the our the course of our

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humanity by cinema. I think it's very

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important. Cinema always has a mission

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to convey a message. Even when you're

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trying to be fun, you're doing a comedy

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is to make yourself not take things too

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seriously. But at the end of the day,

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it's what connects us. You know, it's

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like no matter what language you speak,

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you know, where we're from in the world,

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cinema is that universal language

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because it's we're all human. We all

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have similar wants, needs, what makes us

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feel hopeful, what makes us angry, what

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hurts us, and that connects us all. The

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more we realize that connectivity, that

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thing that makes us all human, and the

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thing that makes cinema important to us,

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I think that's going to bring us

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together and keep us together as people.

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That's a great question. I mean what's

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what's what's been happening is that

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you've seen people go for what's

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commercial. They go for what sells but

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at the same time somewhere in the

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background there's always be these films

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that may not be mainstream. It shows

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that people want to be affected. People

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want to be changed. So I think that

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there may be a you know this this one

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part was trying to be commercial or

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trying to use AI to make something

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special effect but at the end of the day

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the films that really change us the

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films that portray the human struggle

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that portray us the the commonality of

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us I think those films still seem to

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come emerge to the top which shows that

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we as people want to see those movies so

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that's what's hopeful about it with

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every technology there's always the

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threat that it's going to displace

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what's been done before. And the thing

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is in the beginning during the

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adolescent phase of that technology,

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people may misuse it. People may try to

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take shortcuts, but at the end of the

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day, you have to create art. You know,

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the first time someone did an etching on

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a stone wall, it was very crude

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materials. And eventually we had

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photography and eventually we had moving

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pictures. And every part of that

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changed, people thought we might lose

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something. But at the end the

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sophistication of what we want to see,

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what we want to feel by looking at that,

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whether it's AI, whether it's a

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photographer, is still going to be the

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same. So in the beginning, during the

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during the learning phase, people may

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use it as a shortcut. But at the end, we

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still have to deliver a product that's

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going to endure, that's going to last,

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that someone's going to look back 50

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years from now and say, "Wow, we made

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this film, we made this product, and it

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still changes us today."

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message is live your dreams. Don't be

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afraid. And don't be afraid to try do

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your art. Your art is what's going to

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change the world. And if the art comes

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from a real place, from a true place,

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then you're going to change people. So

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don't be afraid to be honest with your

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art and honest with what you want to do

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and honest with what you love. And

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that's how we change each other.

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Hashtags. I mean, you could hashtag my

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name Rico Simonini. You could hashtag

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Sinatra eternity. the title of the

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movie, you can hashtag S.RICO. That's the

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other side of my career. Um, and that

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that's how you that's how you can find

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me or ricosimonini.com.

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So, so here's I'll give you another

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message and and this has to do with my

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my other career which is a cardiologist

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and the message is this. As a

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cardiologist, my job is to keep people's

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hearts going. And as an artist, your job

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is keep people's hearts going. So feed

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your heart, be good to your heart as as

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an art and as you take care of your

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body. If you respect if you respect

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yourself, respect your body and take

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care of yourself and be true to your

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art, then you'll affect people one at a

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time. So we're trying to change people

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one at a time by changing their hearts

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both physically and spiritually. That's

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the message.

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Thank you very much.