Red as the sky Rosso come il cielo 2005 Dramatisation 112 mins Italian with English subtitles
A hugely uplifting film. Not only is this a wonderful true story, which in itself means that the viewing of the film takes on even more significance, but also the making of the film is magnificent. A great achievement for director Bortone in this his first feature film, winning him many, many awards.
Beyond all that is the acting of the children. At the annual Berlinale (Berlin film festival) I met the director of the film, where he told me that they spent six months schooling the child actors; schooling the blind children to act and to follow the script; six months training Luca, who plays Mirco, to act blind. All I can say is he must be one of the world’s best teachers. Their acting is superb!
The story is from 1970, and is about Mirco, a Tuscan child in love with cinema. Tragically he loses his eyesight in an accident. In Italy at that time the law regarded blind people as handicapped, not allowing them to attend public school, forcing his parents to send him to an institution in another city.
There Mirco finds an old reel to reel tape player and discovers that in slicing up the tape and piecing it back together and using only the sounds he can create fairy tales. As the people at the Institute try and stop him from pursuing his hobby, Mirco gradually convinces the other blind children to discover their own talents.
The film recounts the true story of Mirco Mencacci, who despite his blindness, went on to become one of the most renowned sound editors in Italian cinema. His credits include ‘Ignorant fairies’, ‘Facing windows’ and ‘Best of youth’.
“An outstanding film for adults and children” European Children’s Film Association
2007 Montreal International Children’s Film festival: Winner Best film; 2006 Sao Paolo International Film festival: Winner best foreign film; Winner 2007 David Donatello: Best newcomer.
Director: Cristiano Bortone Cast: Paolo Sassanelli, Luca Capriotti, Marco Cocci, Simone Colombari, Rosanna Gentile, Francesca Maturanza Rating: M contains offensive language and sexual references
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