“They see us in the public, but not in art,” says Giovanni Venturini about people with dwarfism

The 32-year-old actor will be in the second season of Globoplay’s “Justiça”, playing the nephew of Julia Lemmertz and Murilo Benício

The actor Giovanni Venturini, 32, has collected national and international awards as the protagonist of the short film “Big Bang”, which tells the experience of a man with dwarfism who works repairing ovens. The work gained visibility and allowed the actor to establish himself in the art beyond dwarfism.

Venturini will be in the second season of the series “Justiça”, which will debut in April on Globoplay, in the role of Julia Lemmertz and Murilo Benício’s nephew. “It’s a very important project because the invitation to play this character came largely because of my work. It’s a character that wasn’t written as a person with dwarfism and isn’t about dwarfism,” Giovanni said in an interview with Earth WE.

Who is the actor suffering from dwarfism with award-winning films in Brazil and abroad

“It will be important for people to see me in this place and remove the stigma that people with disabilities can only play disabled or ‘good’ characters. My character is not very well regarded, I won’t say he is the villain of the story, but let’s say he is the partner and accomplice of one of the bad guys,” he said.

To get to this moment, Venturini had to refuse many invitations to play comic characters, which only served to stereotype people with dwarfism. “Since I started positioning myself in the art market, saying no and turning down invitations, people started seeing me differently and the invitations for these characters started to decrease,” she pointed out.

“I think that, due to the current situation in our society and with the discussions on diversity and ableism, we have made a lot of progress and this is also reflected in the audiovisual. Today I can point out where the mistakes are and many directors and screenwriters I they listen, they are aware of it and they are able to change the way characters with dwarfism are written.”

Film sets

Despite having a CV with important productions, such as “O Rei da TV”, “Os Ausentes” and “Cúmplices de Um Resgate”, the actor still has to deal with structural prejudices on film sets and in theaters, which offer no support for people with disabilities.

«It’s always a more veiled prejudice. Everyone says they are very inclusive and attentive to diversity, but sometimes the scenography is not suitable, the bathroom and the sink are too high. Often the structure of the theater is not designed for people with disabilities. They only see us in the audience or as spectators, but not in art,” she emphasized.

Venturini therefore believes that the short film “Big Bang”, which tells the story of the class struggle through a character with dwarfism who does not carry with him the stereotypes of disability, can bring this discussion to the public. “It’s also the struggle of invisible bodies in society. My presence in the film makes the story stronger and brings other layers to the discussion,” she said Earth WE.

“Big Bang” marked not only the actor’s career, but also his life. “The invitation came at a time when I was a little discouraged about the profession. I received a lot of stereotyped invitations and didn’t have many opportunities,” he said.

“After Carlos Segundo, the director of the short film, came with this invitation, I often joke that it added fuel to my stove, drawing a parallel with the film. It rekindled this flame of moving forward and believing in my career.”

“Big Bang” won the Best Short Film award at the 2022 Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, Cine Ceará 2022 and Panorama Coisa de Cinema 2022. And Giovanni won the Best Actor award at the 2022 Brasilia Film Festival.

“Having all this recognition within the Brazilian film academy is very important,” he emphasizes.

Trajectory

Giovanni Venturini’s career began as a teenager, around the age of 16. Born in the state of Sao Paulo, he always knew he wanted to be an actor, and it was through a school play that he had the opportunity to take the stage for the first time.

“I remember I forgot the lyrics and I improvised. I felt really good about improvising and I said, ‘Wow, this is what it’s like to be an actor’. So I started chasing this dream career,” he recalled.

But when it came to deciding on a profession in high school, Giovanni was afraid to choose acting due to societal pressure. “It was a very uncertain acting career that varied a lot from month to month.”

Venturini graduated in Tourism Management while working as an actor at the time. In 2012 he left his job in the office and began to live exclusively on art.

“Since then things have gone wonderfully well. And I think a lot of it is due to the fact that I dedicated myself 100% to what I wanted to do, without dividing myself between two professions,” he said.

Audiovisual

“I started with theatre, but today I have worked a lot in the audiovisual sector, in cinema and on TV. And I liked this new opening of the audiovisual market to diversity.”

He recently finished recording another Globoplay series, “Dias Perfeitos”: “It brings a very heavy story and I think the unity of the team on set is important to build intense stories.”

“Now I’m starting a new process within the theater, it’s called Rotação. It’s a show that mixes dance and theater, and it will debut in Curitiba. In this first semester I will focus more on the theater,” he revealed.

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Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.