Fabrizio Moretti - 122 - Alain Elkann Interviews

"A VOCATION NEEDS SOMEONE WHO WILL LISTEN." Sabine van Vlaenderen Badinter runs the Fondation de la Vocation, created in 1959 by Publicis founder Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet to help young people pursue a calling. Publicis Groupe S.A. is one of the world's leading communication groups. "We are looking for the person who has kept going, year after year, despite every reason to stop." "We must not allow the speed of technological change to obscure the human qualities that make a life meaningful." "It always takes two: the young person who dares to try and the person who takes the time to recognise what is there." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/sabine-badinter

THE POWER OF OIL. Philip Delves Broughton is a British author, journalist and former foreign correspondent whose writing explores the worlds of business, leadership, ambition and human behaviour. Educated in Classics at Oxford University, he spent a decade at The Daily Telegraph, serving as its Paris and New York correspondent. He went on to write the international bestseller Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School, an insightful and often humorous account of his experience studying for an MBA at Harvard. His other books include The Art of the Sale, which examines the psychology and culture of selling. His new book Embargo: Six Months That Changed the World is a non-fiction geopolitical book published in October 2026 by Hutchinson Heinemann in the UK and Simon & Schuster in the US. "What begins as a dispute over oil becomes a much broader reordering of economic and strategic relationships." "It is tempting to imagine that oil simply poured money into Saudi Arabia and made everyone happy. In reality, it placed extraordinary strains on individuals and on the society." "Saudi Arabia is still governed by a ruling family rather than through a democratic system, and patronage shapes how resources are distributed, so social mobility can be constrained." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/philip-delves-broughton/

THE GALLERY IS A PALESTRA WHERE AN ARTIST CAN EXPRESS HIS POETRY. Franco Noero is an influential Italian contemporary art gallerist. Born in Cuneo, he is founder of Galleria Franco Noero in Turin, and board member of ITALICS art consortium uniting over 70 of Italy's leading ancient, modern, and contemporary art galleries. He opened his baseline gallery in March 1999, focusing heavily on conceptual practices and radical artistic research. "From the beginning, I wanted the gallery to do more than simply represent artists. We wanted to produce exhibitions and works, and to accompany artists in their development." "Artists can move in almost any direction, using every possible language and technology." "Turin continues to give us possibilities. Artists love coming here." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/franco-noero/

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.

CONNECTING HUMANS AND NATURE. I interviewed the eminent Japanese architect Tadao Ando at Château La Coste, the beautiful hotel and vineyard located near Aix-en-Provence, where Ando was opening a show of his drawings in the art centre that he built in 2011. Afterwards, Ando was going on to Paris, as he is restoring and rebuilding the Bourse de Commerce building to become a museum that houses the Pinault Collection.

COVID REFLECTIONS. Jay McInerney is a well-known American writer, one of the most gifted of his generation. Novelist, screenwriter and wine connoisseur, McInerney recently published See You on the Other Side, the eagerly anticipated final volume of his stunningly accomplished and profoundly affecting fictional tetralogy: Brightness Falls, The Good Life, and Bright Precious Days. "The stories that I'm interested in ultimately are the personal ones." "The people who come here are ambitious and energetic and they come here because it's the biggest stage in America that there is." "There is something special about the voices of people in their 20s, which we need." https://www.alainelkanninterviews.com/jay-mcinerney/