Mahmoud told me it was my treatment – Cinema

“I’ve never been very good at talking about myself, maybe that’s also why I started writing songs.” It’s one of the first reflections we hear from the winning San Remo singer-songwriter (in 2019 with “Soldi”, and in combination with Blanco, in 2022 with “Broglie”) in “Mahmoud”, Giorgio Testi’s documentary/photo, which debuted At the Rome Film Festival at Alice nella città and then hit theaters in an event from October 17-19 with Nexo and from November 15 on Prime video. Journey into the leitmotif of Mahmoud’s Italian and European tour, from Bataclan in Paris to O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London or Sala but in Madrid, via Alcatraz in Milan or Eurovision, glimpses, also using 2D animation, family films and testimonies of friends, family and colleagues, from Carmen Consoli to Blanco and Dardust, on the human and personal path (without touching the emotional sphere) and the artistic path of Alessandro Mahmoud born in 1992. In particular, he focuses there on the importance of the character of his mother Anna, a Sardinian from Orosei, a fixed point in his life (” He always showed himself as a happy kid, and I later found out that he expressed his discomfort in songs,” he explains); The complicated relationship with his Egyptian father Ahmed (who also recounted in one of his famous songs, “Money”), weaknesses, professional disappointments (such as the elimination of Factor X in 2012), and difficult, even final moments, such as a house destroyed in the Torre dei fire Moreau in Milan in 2021; The ability to seize new opportunities and the relationship to success, “which did not change him – as one of his friends says – but, on the contrary, made him more sympathetic.” When you decide “to make a documentary about your life and your way, you have to be sincere and tell things that are a little more uncomfortable, as you did regarding the relationship with my father – Mahmoud explains at the press conference – in order for it to be a very long journey. It is 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 helped me to make points in certain moments… Others,” he comments with a smile. The singer-songwriter wanted the docuflm (produced by Red Carpet, a subsidiary of the ILBE group, in collaboration with Prime Video) “the antithesis of celebration and a professional award – he adds -.” Also because seeing me pass a pine forest in Sardinia, where I cook sausages with my family (no Sima between uncles and cousins), and rehearsals in London dressing rooms do not correspond to the image of the star who breaks everything. I did not want it to be a pompous tale, but the more comfortable the human side of this track, the more transformation the music brings to me. I wanted to Show how I really am.” The musician, in his exploration of other arts, also published last year a graphic novel, Ghettolimpo. On the Paths of the Soul (Mondadori): “I think that talking about the barriers between music, cinema, literature and fashion is becoming more and more reductive … I believe that everything is relatable and communicative. Thanks to this documentary, I was able to explain the aspects and aspects of my personality whose instinct is not clear Always with the music.” Mahmoud would like the documentary to also make it clear that there are not always loopholes “in the way of reaching the goal and that in any case we should not stop in front of the doors in the face.”