Christian, a 25-year-old man, tries to take to school his little brother, Giulio. This is no easy task, since Christian works as a bricklayer in a construction site, and he needs to be at work by the time Giulio starts school. The mother is an alcoholic, and she is uncapable of taking any responsibility for herself or her children, who are literally on their own. Moreover, there’s no father around. Christian is fair-skinned and has blue eyes. Giulio is biracial. Giulio will ask his brother why their skin color looks so different. Christian will explain to him that they share a mother, but have two different fathers; he will add that Giulio’s dad probably looks more like Mohamed, the owner of the deli in their building, where the brothers often go buying alcohol at their mother’s request, or to get Giulio’s favorite candies. Within the complexity of the brothers’ life, Mohamed will become a father figure and source of relief for them, thanks to his generosity and to his understanding of their needs and their research for an identity. Christian and Giulio are two common heroes of our time: the ones who conquer survival.
The short film is produced by First Child Productions, won a 11.000 grant from the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission, and has been supported by several sponsors:
Maresca e Fiorentino Spa
Il Caffé della Corte
Terantiga Varignana
Regina Sofia
Le dolcezze di Monteveglio - Tedeschi dolciumi
The project has been supported also by the donors of the crowdfunding campaign:
Mara Martelli, Titty Ricchiuti, Omero Orioli, Chiara De Lorenzi, Bénédicte Brea, Ella Rydberg, Loïc Chabrier, Sandra Maria Licandro, Xavier de Durat, Giulia Zannoni, Margherita Gazzola, Delia Arnon-Gyger, Anna Zornetta, Lorenzo Castagnoli, Eleonora Galli, Andrea Torsello, Giulia Sossai, Arturo Caciotti, Matilde Migliaccio
Valentina Casadei is the writer and director. She studied filmmaking in Paris, where she currently lives. Her previous short films, “All About Emily” and “Blessed Days”, were selected in many Festival worldwide, and won a total of 52 awards.
Paola Piccioli, the producer, produced several shorts, such as "Idda" and "Don Gino", and the feature film "Il Talento", currently released in the festival circuit, while she is currently working at the feature documentary "Before They Act", focusing on child sexual abuse prevention.
The film will be shot almost entirely with talents from the area, and will feature Matteo Olivetti as leading actor ("Boys Cry", by the D’Innocenzo brothers).
The themes of the short are brotherhood, survival, the research for an identity, child abuse and adolescence.