2 July 2019
The short film "Christmas Surprise" will be screened at the Giffoni Festival, produced by the Prosopon Association and the SRC, with the patronage of the Municipality of Rizziconi and the collaboration of the Pro Loco.
An extraordinary result for the Calabria Acting School, for its creator and director Walter Cordopatri and its coordinator Giorgio Colangeli. The School, sponsored by the Municipality of Cittanova, has always had among its objectives not to stop at training alone, but to also become a driving force in the production field, giving its students and graduates the opportunity to enter the world of work, both in the cinema and theater fields. From here the first SRC productions were born: “Tre Owls on the dresser” (theatrical show - 2018), “Essere dipiù” (theatrical show and short film - 2018), “Insomnia” (clown theater show - 2019), and finally “Christmas Surprise” (short film - 2019). The latter was previewed during Director Gubitosi's last visit to the SRC, on May 6th, achieving extraordinary success.
The short film, written and directed by Salvatore Romano, and starring the recent graduates of the Calabria Acting School, Caterina Filardo, Domiziana Sapone, Annalisa Schiavone, with the participation of Hammed Afolabi, was filmed in Rizziconi in February 2019, with the collaboration of the Pro Loco and the patronage of the Municipality of Rizziconi. The production aims to highlight very current and highly socially relevant issues, such as civil rights, racism and gender equality, and does so in an unexpectedly 'light' way, managing to spark important reflections while not missing a few healthy laughs.
The involvement of Hamed Afolabi is not a coincidence, but the result of the precise desire to give a chance for social redemption to a boy with extraordinary talents who, from Nigeria, a few years ago, arrived in the Gioia Tauro plain, linked to a destiny that seemed already mapped out and incontrovertible. The SRC wanted to dispel this reality, giving Hamed the opportunity to study and be part of a production which, against all odds, is crossing the thresholds of important festivals in Italy and around the world.
Finalist at the "Social world film festival", already requested by a German distributor, it is preparing for its first official screening at the most important children's film festival in the world. In fact, on 21 July at 6pm, it will be screened in the Blue Room of the Giffoni Experience, as part of the activities of the Masterclass Connect, in the presence of director Salvatore Romano and one of the protagonists, Annalisa Schiavone, already in Giffoni as a Masterclass. And it will be interesting and unique for our Annalisa to move from the role of spectator to that of protagonist! A dream that takes on concreteness, an opportunity that cannot be taken for granted, and which is the result of the great stubbornness with which this small but great reality is taking its steps in the territory, and beyond regional and national borders.