23 Settembre 2016
Movement Torino: Founder Maurizio Vitale Looks Ahead to This Year’s Festival
Festicket Magazine | By James Kilpin
Last year, Movement Torino celebrated its 10th birthday in some style, and it is back once again this October for an eleventh edition; featuring the likes of Adam Beyer, Sven Väth and Detroit legends Derrick May and Jeff Mills.
Ahead of the latest edition, we caught up with founder Maurizio Vitale to discuss how preparations are going, and see what he’s looking forward to at Movement Torino 2016
How are preparations going for this year’s festival?
I’d say we’re a little bit ahead of where we were this time last year, from a pre-production point of view, so I’m positive.
But of course to be an entrepreneur in Italy is always a mission, so my effort is to improve the organisational platform, the system within the company. Because today it’s no longer a matter of having a great idea, it’s a matter of having a system that makes the idea possible.
Do you still get nervous in the run-up to the festival, or are you confident that it will go well after a decade of doing it?
That’s a very good question. You spend time, you invest money, you invest resources and you do your best, dreaming of people realising that.
We do everything for the crowd to make it a better experience for them, and then waiting to see whether they show up or not is not always easy.
Sales are actually doing well, we’re doing better than last year so I’m confident. But until the day you open the door, you never know. In Italy there’s an attitude of buying very last-minute so it’s still a very stressful time and business.
Of course the mission is to increase the effectiveness of the system and improve our logistics to enrich the experience of the crowd.
So we have introduced, as one of the first in Europe, the cashless card system. We are moving digital. Improving the soundsystem.
We consider our lineup to be really good. We are improving our relationships with the sponsors. We are the only festival in Italy who got patronage from the European Commission.
I think I’m doing everything I can, but you never know whether it will be enough.
Speaking of the lineup, who are you particularly excited to be brining to the festival this year?
I’m very happy that Mr Sven Väth is coming to Movement, because it’s never happened before.
We asked him a few times at the club edition, and we had him playing in Croatia for our first experience there. But he’s never played the main show of the festival, on the 31st that is, so I’m very happy to have him coming as our guest.
And of course I’m very happy to have Derrick May and the whole Detroit stage.
I’m happy to have Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann back again because they are friends of ours.
And I’m also happy to have the so-called Apollonia room, because this is a special project: Apollonia and friends. I see this really completing the lineup. Because it’s obviously a very techno driven and orientated lineup, and with the Apollonia experience and showcase, I think it really completes what we offer.
You mentioned the Detroit stage, and you’ve got Detroit legends playing at the festival again this year in Derrick May and Jeff Mills. How important is it for you to bring those iconic DJs from the home of Movement to the Torino festival each year?
First of all it’s a pleasure, because Derrick is a personal friend who I respect. Spending time with him is always very enlightening and very enriching, so it’s an honour.
Also it’s important because the more you recognise your identity and origins, the more likely you are to survive.
For us it’s important to become a global brand, which eventually we might be, and we are global because we are proud of our origins.
The origins of techno music is Detroit, the origins of Movement is Detroit, so for me it’s an honour and a matter of respect to recognise our origins.
It’s also strategic, if you have a original history and you can claim an original identity you have an advantage, you are a step ahead of the others. Like in any industry: automotive, fashion, entertainment.
Movement was born in Detroit, the city of techno, so why not tell that story. It’s a fantastic story to be told.
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