A school verging on noir in Secchi, a special Venice Days event
- The stop motion animation short, written and directed by Edo Natoli, will be presented in its global premiere during the Venice Days and will precede the screening of La mia classe by Gaglianone
Animation short Secchi, written and directed by the young Edo Natoli, will kick off the Venice Days 2013 schedule on September 2. The short, which will be presented in its global premiere during Venice Days will precede the screening of La mia classe by Daniele Gaglianone. “We chose to adopt Edo Natoli’s film debut", Giorgio Gosetti, the general director said, “recognising an authentic creative talent which pushed us to ignore our rules which do not allow shorts to appear in the selection. We thought it would be a great homage to present it together with another Italian film which showcases two very different genres, bringing us all back, for one day, to school classrooms.”
Filmed entirely in stop motion, Secchi tells the story of Gianenzo and his sworn enemies Luigifausta and Pancraziomaria, three nerds (in Italian "secchioni" which inspired the title), about to take their fifth grade exam, all competing to be the top performer in the class.
“I have always been a great fan of stop motion,” Natoli explained, “but I thought I would neither have the means, nor the time to try and make such a thing. Two years ago, I decided to bring a story I had not written to life. I did not seek financing out, I created my main characters and to my mother’s greatest joy, I transformed our living room into a play set.”
The short, which is narrated by Pierfrancesco Favino, required one and a half years of work and over twenty clay and latex dolls (each between 5 and 28 centimetres tall), who star in a story with noir overtones, in a grotesque world where meritocracy in schools has become overshadowed by a middle class striving for self-confirmation.
The Venice Days, in their tenth edition, will take place from August 28 to September 7 (read the news story) within the context of the 70th Venice Film Festival. To see the new Venice Days seal, click here.
(Translated from Italian)
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