ITALY – 2022 – DCP – colore – 96’

CREDITS:

Direction: Alberto Ferrari

Screenplay: Massimiliano D’Epiro, Vincenzo Manna tratto da la pièce teatrale di Vincenzo Manna La classe

Cinematography: Matteo Calore

Editing: Karolina Maciejewska

Set design: Francesco Scandale

Music: Davide “Boosta” Dileo

Costumes: Sabrina Beretta

Cast: Marius Bizauthe (teacher),Haroun Fall (Talib),Andrea Fuorto (Nicolas),Ileana D’ambra (Maisa),Luca Chikovani (Vasile),Cecilia Montaruli (Petra),Antonia Fotaras (Arianna),Fabrizio Ferracane (the school principal),Darko Peric (the janitor)

Producers: Ivan D’Ambrosio, Federica Luna Vincenti

Production: Dinamo Film, Goldenart Production con Rai Cinema in association with Notorious Pictures

Distribution:Notorious Pictures

SYNOPSIS

A suburban high school. Gabriele, a young teacher who has just moved, is called to hold a remedial course for six “difficult”students. They’re almost all second-generation Italians and have been suspended for disciplinary reasons. The principal is clearright from the start: the students must make up a few hours of lessons for admission to the diploma exams. The first impact with thestudents, however, is very violent. Nicolas, the most challenging one, with deeply rooted prejudices, threatens him with a knife andexplains to him what are the “rules” to follow in that class.Despite the distrust of the principal and his colleagues, Gabriele manages to win over the youngsters, both on an educational leveland, above all, on a human level. He breaks the rules, and befriends them. Everyone except Nicolas …

REGISTA

He was born in Rome. After classical studies, he has collaborated with Endemol, Lucisano and Magnolia, taking care of severalbackstages. For Think Cattleya he has taken care of the visual communication of Blu-Ray for the Guilty/Gucci campaign, directed byFrank Miller. He has realised several documentaries:Beslanabout the tragedy of School Number 1 in North Ossetia,Goa Nation,about roman and international electronic music; he has also given his directorial contribution to the Italian Civil Protection and theartistic foundation Pastificio Cerere. He has taken part in a Nokia contest, winning the Prix du Public at the Festival Des Images inParis. He has made several music videos (Mescal, Sony, Bmg, Artist First, Maestro) shooting both on film and in digital and hasworked on national and international advertising campaigns: WWF, L’Oréal, Public Education against bullying for cinema, FineJewelery in eastern Europe, Ibiza. He has collaborated with many Italian artists, including Ruffo, Savini, Nunzio, Gallo, PizziCannella, Tirelli. His first novel,D’Estro, with a preface by Giancarlo De Cataldo, has won several literary awards. In 2018 he wasone of the finalists of the Solinas Prize withExperimenta Serie. In 2021 he wrote a mini-series, together with V. Manna, entitledHeysel(in pre-production, Picomedia).He has directed the filmBlancafor the cinema, together with Danilo Proietti and has written the story forLa donna giusta, a shortfilm by Brando De Sica. His shortStella, produced with Rai Cinema, has won the London Film Festival and has received severalawards in Italian festivals.La prima regolais the first feature film he has directed alone, based on the playLa classeby Vincenzo Manna, with whom he haswritten its story and screenplay.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“After seeingLa classe, I realised that the strength of the text laid in the sincere testimony of what is happening in a school today.The play was written after a survey conducted on a sample of students, on the theme of “the relationship of young people withdiversity”, and specifically with migrants. We know everything about school, but not from the voices of students, who experience itscontradictions and conflicts. The film is constructed in such a way as to suck reality into a non-place – the class – that reflects all theclasses of the country. As in a black fairy tale we don’t know where we are, and the relationships between the characters arearchetypes. Everyone is a planet. The film continually overturns these planets’ points of view through the professor, who performs arevolution motion. It’s a lateral story to ours. The periphery is inhabited by 70% of the population and is always associated withsomething negative, but it is the city that will be – or won’t be.”

FILMOGRAPHY

2009 Polvere (co-directed con Danilo Proietti)
2016 Stella (short)
2022 La prima regola