MERRY-GO-ROUND

Original Title: Giro di giostra Director: Massimiliano Davoli Cast: Michele Riondino, Pippo Delbono, Tea Falco, Anna Ferruzzo, Martina Codecasa, Massimiliano Davoli

Country: Italy Year: 2015 Length: 15’

Screenplay: Massimiliano Davoli, Marco Morana Producer: Giovanni Pompili - Kino Produzioni Cinematography: Francesco Di Giacomo Original music: Pasquale Catalano Editing: Mauro Rossi Sound: Vincenzo Urselli Set design: Angelica Lupi Costume design: Angelica Lupi, Lavinia Bonsignore, Miriam Pacini Color correction: Pino De Santis Sound editing: Christian Gazzi, Mirko Perri

With the support of: MìBAC - Direzione Generale per il Cinema, Roma Lazio Film Commission - Fondo generale per il Cinema e l’Audiovisivo, Nuovo Imaie

SYNOPSIS

Damiano is a man torn between his work in his father's company and his fascination for Mara and the carny's world. On his thirtieth birthday, he is confronted with a lunch with the family, where his father announces that he wants Damiano to act as the new CEO. The news puts Damiano in crisis, but he cannot oppose his father, who is suddenly seized and had a heart attack. At the hospital, Damiano finds a bill in his father’s jacket with an unknown address. He becomes suspicious and goes to the address, finding in a barge on a river where Sara, a transexual sculptor, lives. Damiano becomes aware of his father’s double life, who seems so different from his superficial appearances. The dialogue between the two is interrupted by the tragic call of his sister, announcing his father's death. Damiano runs to the hospital, but he is not alone, Sara is with him. Enough with the lies told to themselves and to others. Will he is now ready to choose the life that he truly belongs to?

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Merry-go-round is a film about the will of choice, the ability to react to the force of inertia in which life we often dozes off and the moment where, for various reasons, we are faced with a significant crossroads in our lives. “I wanted to tell the relationship between a father and his son and how, conversely, often we tend to have an image of the other that does not coincide with what makes him happy. All the characters in this film have, in front of them, an unknown reality that forces them to be aware of their existence, of their role, and then of their will. The opportunity to be in front of another "carousel ride" is an opportunity that places the characters in front, for coincidence or by will, to his personal pursuit of happiness and wants to put two questions to the viewer: are we living the life that makes us really happy or are we trapped in a role, an image, a survival life that is not ours? Can we take over our lives and face a new, scary and exciting, merry-go-round? Looking for an aesthetic imagery in point, I went in search of a place-archetype, a parallel world that could represent in the film the other and the dream; a fantastic dimension that could bring together my leading character with the most authentic part, free and childish self. I found this complex of rides near Rome and was immediately struck by the visual and narrative power of this place: the roller coaster on which we see the actors Michele Riondino and Tea Falco perfectly describe that state of suspended between real life and a potential happy one where I wanted to put all my characters”. Massimiliano Damiano

ACCOLADES

2019 Days of EUtopia – A selection of European shorts 2017 Labour Film Festival - LABOUR.short 2017 Cinema Gran Reno - Cortometraggi che Passione 2016 Genova Film Festival - National Shorts Competition 2016 Foggia Film Festival - Shorts Competition 2016 Magma Festival - Competition 2016 RIFF - Rome Independent Film Festival - Indiefilmchannel.tv (Out of Competition) 2016 Montelupo Fiorentino International Independent Film Festival - Competition 2016 Molise Cinema - Percorsi: Corti Italiani 2016 Est Film Festival - Shorts Competition 2016 Festival SiciliAmbiente - Shorts Competition 2016 Ortigia Film Festival – OFF - Shorts Competition 2016 Cortinametraggio - corti Comedy 2 - Winner of Rai Cinema Channel Award e Best Actor Award (Massimiliano Davoli)

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