The director of Andrea Bocelli’s new documentary felt an instant connection with the opera singer — especially because of their shared cultural heritage.
Speaking to PEOPLE at the Toronto International Film Festival, Cosima Spender, director Andrea Bocelli: Because I believeshares that when the producers were looking for someone to make a documentary, Bocelli expressed interest in an Italian-speaking director.
“I was very lucky that Andrea told the producers that they really wanted an Italian-speaking director, which makes sense because if you’re going to let someone into your life, you want to be able to communicate with them in the language that you’re most at home with,” says Spender. to PEOPLE on Friday, Sept. 6, the day before the doc’s TIFF premiere.
“I met Andrea in a hotel in London. They were checking me out,” she says. “I think he made his decision pretty quickly, because I was born in the same area of Tuscany that he lived in. So I spoke with exactly the same local accent.”
“I think he felt at home and said, ‘Oh, my doctor’s name is Cosimo,’ and I can tell we share a love for the country we come from,” she adds.
Andrea Bocelli and Cosima Spender (fourth and third from right) with crew and family at TIFF on September 7, 2024.
Kayla Oaddams/WireImage
According to the description of the film provided by TIFF, Because I believe details the career of the legendary opera singer from his early childhood and when he began his musical career to the present day, using “interviews and archival footage of performances, as well as informal gatherings, such as a party where Bocelli’s friends and family reminisce over food and wine. ”
For Spender — whose recent work includes directing several Italian TV series, short films and music videos — one of the most important parts of establishing a relationship with Bocelli was bonding over their love of the Tuscan region.
“[He] he has to travel the world… he still wants to feel connected to the country he comes from,” says Spender.
“His success came quite late, and before that he was very attached to the place where he was born and grew up,” she continues. “And we share a love for that land, for the smell of the soil after the rain, for summer and the sounds of winter. It was a bond—an instant bond.”
Because I believe premiered at TIFF on Saturday, September 7, and the audience had the opportunity to see a more intimate side of the tenor’s life.
At one point in the film, Bocelli begins to talk about an event in his childhood that left him blind after living with glaucoma.
“As a child, I was considered extremely short-sighted. I could see everything, but only up close,” said Andrea (65) in the documentary. “I remember the world I saw extremely well. The colors, everything. How could I forget those memories?”
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Andrea Bocelli in November 2023.
John Parra/Getty
The musician’s brother Alberto also spoke about his vision problems in the film, opening up about his difficult childhood.
“My brother Andrea, 3 and a half years old, was operated on 13 times in Turin for congenital glaucoma,” explained Alberto. – It was torture.
While the singer was attending a boarding school for the “impaired”, he was injured playing football, which caused him to have even more vision problems.
Andrea Bocelli recalls the soccer accident that left him blind: ‘Then it got dark’
“One day, playing [soccer]I was the goalkeeper. I have no idea why, because I’ve never been a goalkeeper before,” Bocelli recalled in the film. “And I’ll never be a goalkeeper again. The ball hit me straight in the face. From that blow, the bleeding… and the rest is history.”
Alberto added: “That’s when he lost. That’s when it got dark.”
In an archival interview with Bocelli’s mother featured in the film, she explained that neither she nor her son ever thought of Bocelli as just a “poor boy”.
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“Above all, Andrea never accepted any form of pity. He would say, ‘What’s the point of pity?’ “said his mom. “We raised him on those principles. With a lot of courage.”
According to Spender, the film is full of moments like this that allow viewers to see a more personal view of Bocelli.
“In this movie, you go behind the scenes and see that he’s doing a lot more than just standing there and singing,” Spender tells PEOPLE. “You get a sense of who he is as a person. You get the atmosphere of the house, which music absolutely permeates everyday life. He’s always humming a tune. It’s always like he suddenly sings.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education