Alain Elkann Interviews

THE ART OF BOOKSELLING. Johnny de Falbe runs John Sandoe Books, the independent bookshop near London's Sloane Square, together with his wife Arabella von Friesen and their staff. He has worked there since 1989. The small Chelsea shop stocks around 30,000 books and is one of London's best-loved independent booksellers.

"It matters to me that we have clients in America, Italy and all over the world. I want us to feel international."

"Above all, one wants human-to-human contact. The relationship with an independent shop goes beyond the simply transactional."

"Bookselling is very physical, and sometimes absolutely exhausting, particularly as one gets older, but I go on thinking it is a valuable and enjoyable thing to do."

https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/johnny-de-falbe-2

MASTER OF THE CRAFT OF ACTING. Marco Antonio Servillo was born in Afragola, Italy, in 1959. He built a rich theatrical foundation by founding the Teatro Studio in 1977 and co-founding the influential company Teatri Uniti in 1987. He achieved international film renown through his frequent collaborations with director Paolo Sorrentino, delivering unforgettable lead performances as real-life political figures in Il Divo and Loro, as well as starring in the Academy Award-winning The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza). Widely celebrated for his commanding voice, expressive range, and striking physical transformation on screen and stage, he has won multiple European Film Awards and David di Donatello awards, and was ranked seventh on The New York Times list of the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century.

"The theatre offers you the opportunity to engage with personalities that are the result of profound reflection and great poetic achievements."

"When I first started out in this profession, I never would have imagined that films with a distinctly Italian flavour would go on to have such an international impact."

"Whether I'm a brilliant artist, a chess player or a terrible criminal, cinema is an illusion. That's the beauty of cinema."

https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/toni-servillo/

Amos Gitai, the acclaimed 75-year-old Israeli architect-turned-filmmaker known for his politically charged and deeply reflective documentaries, premiered his latest work, The Road to Jericho, out of competition at the 2026 International Venice Film Festival. The 75-minute film chronicles the struggle of a Bedouin community in the occupied West Bank village of Khan al-Ahmar, weaving together 40 years of archival footage with contemporary reflections.

True to his signature style, Gitai presents the documentary as a "civic gesture" aimed at preserving collective memory and challenging established narratives, rather than offering easy answers to a deeply entrenched conflict.

"I find myself in a delicate position, holding contradictory thoughts in a dramatic and tragic moment."

"Symbolic power matters, because reality does not change only through money and machine guns. It also changes through ideas, and we have to speak about ideas."

"Sometimes human beings understand, after a great conflict, that perhaps they have something better to do with their lives. Let's hope."

https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/amos-gitai-7/

THE REGENERATION OF THE FRICK. Axel Rüger is a German art historian, curator and museum director. Director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 2006 to 2019, he previously worked as a curator of Dutch art at the National Gallery in London. He led the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2019 through 2024, and in March 2025 assumed the directorship of The Frick Collection in New York City. "You get a sense of how the Fricks lived at the time, even though we do not really talk much about their daily life." "For the first time, the Frick now also has a café and a dedicated space for education activities." "The library has always been a vital part of the museum." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/axel-ruger/

REINVENTING LONDON'S LEGENDARY LUXURY HOSPITALITY. International entrepreneur Paddy McKillen has a passion for the hospitality business and property development. In 2004 he was part of a group that bought four of London's 5-star hotels: Claridge's, The Berkeley, The Connaught and The Savoy.

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE VOYAGE. Simone Fattal is a Lebanese-American artist. Born in 1942 in Damascus, she was educated in Beirut and Paris, studying philosophy at the École des Lettres and the Sorbonne, as well as archaeology at the École du Louvre. Simone Fattal and Etel Adnan (1925–2021) were life partners for 49 years, artists who shared a profound creative, political, and personal connection. Their multidisciplinary work spans painting, sculpture, poetry, and publishing. "We have to ask the women prisoners to write the poems. Which they did, and I transcribed them on the surfaces of the lava." "My inspiration doesn't come from artists. When I'm working, poetic verses come to my mind." "I'm not displaced, but a traveler."

A LIFE OF HONOR. Aimone di Savoia Aosta, 6th Duke of Aosta, was born in Florence in 1967. After studying at the Naval College in Venice and beginning his professional life in London, he moved to Russia in the early 1990s. He later joined the Pirelli Group and more recently returned to Italy after many years abroad. He has also served as Ambassador of the Order of Malta to Russia. "Italian History does not begin in 1946, but March the 17th 1861, in Turin! " "The title of Duke of Puglia was given to me by Umberto II and this grant was part of the tradition of the House of Savoy" "I believe Europeans should make a greater effort to stop the war" https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/aimone-di-savoia-aosta

BUILDING TOWARDS EQUALITY. Alejandro Aravena is a Chilean architect and executive director of the firm Elemental S.A. In 2016 he won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's highest honour, and was the director and curator of the Architecture Section of the 2016 Venice Biennale. From 2000 to 2005 he was a visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design. An International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he was appointed Chair of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury as of March 2021.

CHAMPION OF ITALIAN OPERA. Alvise Casellati was born in Padua, Italy, from a Venetian musical family with important ties to the top classical music scene in the 19th and 20th centuries. He is currently serving as Artistic Director of the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, one of the most prestigious opera and dance theaters in Italy and in the world. He is the Founder and Music Director of Opera Italiana is in the Air (OIA), created in 2017 to bring superstar singers and the young talents in iconic locations in the air such as Central Park, New York, to give everyone the opportunity to appreciate Italian Opera. "The locals look at Teatro Massimo as a myth, as the centre of cultural gravity in Palermo." "We wanted to give young people and people who could not afford to go to the Met Opera the opportunity to fall in love with Italian opera" "What I adore about this theater is the investment in the young generation." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/alvise-casellati-2/

LUMINARY IN ART CRITIQUE. Andrew Graham-Dixon is a leading art critic and presenter of arts television in the English-speaking world. With a long history of public service in the field of the visual arts he has won numerous awards for writing and broadcasting. His book "Caravaggio A Life Sacred and Profane" is a Sunday Times Bestseller, and his recent title "Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found" paints a dramatically new picture of Vermeer. Graham-Dixon reveals many of the painter's hitherto unknown friendships, as well as his previously undetected allegiance to a radical movement driven underground by persecution. "Vermeer is the first really great religious painter of introspective post-Reformation religion." "The Dutch Golden Age is probably the worst name ever given to a period in history by historians. It's not a golden age. It's an age of blood." "I'm a profound Collegiant. There's not many of us now. I believe in universal tolerance." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/andrew-graham-dixon/