“Thena” interview with director Peter Gold and producer James Franco

At Taormina Film Festival, FRED Film Radio interviewed director Peter Gold and producer James Franco to talk about “Thena”, a movie presented at the 2025 edition.

A Bay Area story

“Thena” is very personal to Peter Gold, having grown up in the Bay Area and witnessed what happens on the streets of San Francisco. How important was it for him to translate those experiences into a cinematic narrative? “It was just a matter of being in touch with my raw emotion based on the script and finding a cast that felt like it represented the Bay Area community”, says the director. “And once you find the right cast with a script that really works, shooting on location in San Francisco and Palo Alto, I really felt like the story just came to life and felt very authentic”.

An addiction story with a whole new dimension

James Franco has an extensive experience in cinema. Which aspects of the story do he believe are most urgent or relevant for a contemporary audience? “What I found very interesting about this film is on one level it is an addiction story, and with that comes it can be very intense and sad”, says the producer. “But there was a new aspect that I had never seen in any movie before, which was to have the brother looking for his sister and trying to help her. I was really touched by this and it gave the story a whole new dimension and a new kind of depth”.

A sense of realism

“Thena” is a film in which the visual component plays a leading role. “Fortunately, we had the same cinematographer of A Ciambra and A Chiara, Tim Curtin. He has a visual style that just really felt like it was the right thing for this movie”, says Peter Gold. “I also love movies like Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold. But Tim Curtin just really has that way of he’s always holding his own camera, feeling the world around him. We do these long takes, very close, with 85mm lenses, and it creates this sense of realism of finding the world as we’re shooting it, not doing traditional coverage. It was very much so finding it as we were shooting”.

The importance of giving back

A long career as an actor and director and a new role as a producer after “Kink” in 2013. Why is it so important for James Franco to work with young emerging directors? “I’ve been working in the film industry for 25 years. I think it is important to not give back. You just can get dried up. I truly believe you need to give back. Mentor, teach and pass on your experience to other people”, says the producer. “And in that way, you don’t dry up, you stay fresh and get inspired. But even more than that, you just stop thinking about yourself so much. This project was great because so many people I cared about were making it. So I could just be there to help in any way I could”.

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