Mafia movie script is penned by Italian deputy

Date: 04/07/02

AN ITALIAN MEP has become the latest member to reveal his creative side after writing the screenplay to a new film about the Mafia.

Socialist deputy Giovanni Fava wrote the script for I Cento Passi (One Hundred Steps), the true story of Peppino Impastato, a young anti-Mafia activist who was murdered when he turned his back on his family's Mafia connections and defied the boss of his village.

The film, which opened in Brussels this week, has already won a clutch of awards, including Best European Feature at the 2001 Brussels film festival.

The screenplay was based on a book by 44-year-old Fava about the circumstances surrounding the Impastato case.

'I was in interested in his story because it was the story of Sicily,' said Fava. 'It is an optimistic film.

'Sicily has changed. No one claims anymore that the Mafia does not exist and it is thanks to people like Impastato.'

Fava is now working on his next script about an Albanian woman who is kidnapped and taken to Italy to work as a prostitute.

He joins Finnish Green member Matti Wuori in turning to movies: Wuori recently played a minor role in Aki Kaurismaki's The Man Without A Past.

Italian MEP Giovanni Fava has written the screenplay to a new film about the Mafia.