Director Davide Ferrario has never been interested in the obvious... Profound themes for a story filled with energy, dance, music by Marlene Kuntz, and rap that speaks of love and anger... And humanity, in the naturalness of the non-professional actors. Great performance by Katia Smutniak..."

“IT MAKES US LAUGH... IT MAKES US CRY... IT MAKES US THINK... YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM..."

"A BRILLIANT FILM... GREAT COMEDY ... a mixed brilliant film... a prison director with a big heart, a pestering but likeable nun, as only Littizzetto could play, a chaplain little inclined to changing the cast of "Jesus Christ Superstar". A great comedy... in which Ferrario asks original questions with paradoxical and physical spontaneity... with a "graced" cast, beginning with the excellent Smutniak..."

“POETICALLY UNIQUE... LIGHT, AIRY, MAGIC”

"PRAISES TO A COURAGEOUS FERRARIO... RICH MUSIC SCORE ... the new film by Davide Ferrario... a moving response... above all in terms of its location... secondly, as an expression of non-documentary cine-vérité... A pearl... talent that works on the basis of a real knowledge of how much is at stake.... The questioning of paradigms such as freedom, responsibility, religious and spiritual meaning... The richness of music composed and performed by accomplished artists such as Marlene Kuntz..."

"GREAT MUSIC... LIKE A BLUES BROTHERS SET...
A SMASHING LUCIANA LITTIZZETTO... STIRRING BEATS OF MARLENE KUNTZ... great music that transforms prison into a Blues Brothers set... with a smashing Luciana Littizzetto... a tremendously funny film to the stirring beats of Marlene Kuntz, Cecco Signa and Paolo Ciarchi..."

"MOVING AND EVOCATIVE..."

"ABSOLUTELY ORIGINAL... SIGNIFICANT...
STYLISTICALLY ADMIRABLE... an absolutely original, significant and stylistically admirable film... a mix of multi-media... philosophy... a very interesting experiment... The inmates are all very good and very natural, Kasia Smutniak is talented and beautiful..."

"THE MOST SURPRISING, ORIGINAL AND INNOVATIVE ITALIAN FILM OF THE YEAR..."

"DELICACY... MUSIC THAT TELLS A STORY... A BEAUTIFUL DYNAMIC AND WISE FILM... Ferrario avoids banality and common places in his depiction of the inmates... he moves with delicacy in an interweaving of normal everyday emotions and those of the fiction characters... The music is not just a soundtrack, but tells the story, it penetrates the images, distils the inner energy and emotions in the film.... just as the acting, lighting, the flowing energy of editor Claudio Cormio. With the supple solidity of improvisation.... Ferrario knows the emotions, limitations, conflicts of the space in which he moves. FREEDOM is a beautiful dynamic film and shot through with wisdom..."

"A NEW IDEA OF CINEMA... A WONDERFUL FILM... Ferrario speaks to both the film buff and the people...”

"ASTONISHING... SPONTANEOUS... OF EXTRAORDINARY VISUAL AND INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM... An astonishing work of extraordinary visual and intellectual freedom, a hybrid of genres... Ferrario’s film achieves a spontaneous paradoxical unity that is very corporeal and visual, funny and never tragic...Dulcis in fundo, an excellent Littizzetto ’plays’ crafty in her portrayal of an inexorable nagging nun..."

"VERY CONVINCING PERFORMANCE BY FABIO TROIANO... A LIGHT TOUCH... SENSITIVE AND NEVER VOYEUR... film with ... a light touch... filmed with Genesis Panavision... but also a mini-DV that Ferrario and Antonello Grieco use in a way that is sensitive and never voyeur..."

"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ITALIAN FILM OF THE YEAR... EXTRAORDINARY”

********************

SYNOPSIS

A director of avant-garde theatre.
A prison warden.
A chaplain who hopes to stage the Passion.
Twenty inmates just waiting for time to pass...

When Irena Mirkovic accepts to work with Don Iridio to stage a curious “Easter Passion” in a penitentiary, little does she realize that the experience will change her life. Not only because her encounter with prison warden Libero Tarsitano will encourage her to finally break off her relationship with her fiancé, the actor Cristiano, but because soon she will be grappling with a seemingly unsolvable problem.

After winning the confidence of the inmates, Irena discovers that no one "inside" intends to play the part of Judas – for reasons that, in a prison, should be quite obvious to all. Despite her insistence, the "boys" do not budge. In addition, there are others in the prison trying to block the show: one of them is Sister Bonaria, an inflexible nun with a nevertheless very practical mind.

The situation is unblocked when Irena has a brilliant idea: if they cannot find a Judas, why not imagine a different story of Jesus? A story that has nothing to do with betrayal, sentencing, death? A story with a happy ending? The inmates, though not totally grasping the philosophical implications of the idea, like it – as long as it is against going to prison...


ABOUT THE MUSIC
"Music has always had a fundamental role in my cinema. From a certain point of view, it was probably inevitable that sooner or later I would end up making a kind of musical, though I have my doubts that FREEDOM could really be considered this genre. Here, the film never just stops to "let people sing" when it’s time for a dance-musical number. Rather, it is the music that becomes the story, even more so than the dialogues or the screenplay. Of course, for me, music has never been just for background. Instead, music has always been an integral part of the deeper meaning of my films. When I speak of music, I do not mean a specific type of musical genre, but suggestions of all kinds. Just a glimpse at the soundtracks of my films will show what I mean. FREEDOM offers a variety of contributions which then form a summation of many different influences and suggestions. I hope that I have been successful in putting together the rock of Marlene Kuntz with the ballets of Cecco Signa, the romantic accordion of Fabio Barovero to the beat of Gianni Maroccolo, the sound effects of Paolo Ciarchi with the Symphonic Orchestra of Forti and De Luca. And my special thanks to Laura Mazza, choreographer, who succeeded in getting a group of prisoners to dance, as if this were the most natural thing in the world."  DAVIDE FERRARIO

cast

with guest appearance of
LUCIANA LITTIZZETTO
as Sister Bonaria

Irena KASIA SMUTNIAK
Libero FABIO TROIANO
Don Iridio GIANLUCA GOBBI
Cristiano CRISTIANO GODANO
Cecco FRANCESCO SIGNA
Gypsy PAOLO CIARCHI
Script Girl LINDA MESSERKLINGER
Sales assistant ANGELA VUOLO
Workman CHRISTIAN KONABITE’
Pezzi VALENTINA TARICCO
Singer at the sit-in KAAS
Police Commissioner LADISLAO ZANINI
Organist DANTE CECCHIN
Theatre dancers COMPAGNIA “GAP”
Music band MARLENE KUNTZ
and
the INMATES and SURVEILLANCE STAFF
of the TURIN PRISON
SECTION VI - BLOCK A

directed and produced by DAVIDE FERRARIO
screenplay DAVIDE FERRARIO
editor CLAUDIO CORMIO
director of photography DANTE CECCHIN
original music score MARLENE KUNTZ, CECCO SIGNA, FABIO BAROVERO
musical supervisors FABIO BAROVERO, GIANNI MAROCCOLO
sound designer VITO MARTINELLI
art director FRANCESCA BOCCA
choreography LAURA MAZZA
costumes PAOLA RONCO
first assistant director BARBARA DANIELE
 
executive producer LADIS ZANINI
for FARGOfilm

a ROSSOFUOCO production

with the support of
TECHNICOLOR 
FILM COMMISSION TORINO PIEMONTE
DOLBY DIGITAL In Teatri Selezionati
FARGOFILM

credits not contractual

INTERVIEW WITH DAVIDE FERRARIO

Why prison?
I started getting involved with prisons about nine years ago, sort of informally. I was asked to give two lessons on editing for a professional training course for video editors and cameramen at San Vittore, the Milan jailhouse. It was just supposed to be a one-off thing, but the prisoners in the course had such an impact on me that I asked to work as a volunteer, and since then I have continued working "inside".

What do you do "inside"?
Officially, a kind of audiovisual workshop that, in some cases, has also led to the production of important works such as Fine amore: mai, a documentary on sexuality in prisons in 2002, that was even circulated in festivals. Other times, smaller works, shorts or documentaries for "internal" use At other times, we have even written screenplays. But most importantly, I think it is meaningful on a human level. We, who are free, live in a world of plastic and false self-determination. The brutality of prison, however, puts you in an extreme situation where a man has to settle accounts with himself (to the point that some can’t face it and even commit suicide: there are about fifty suicides a year in Italy). This condition generates an energy that is sometimes negative, but fascinating, if you are discerning. And if you go inside with honesty, and not to act like a missionary or because you want to save people, you learn just as many things as you teach there. In the end, the most wonderful compliment anyone can give you is that you are "one of them", as they have often told me, even if I know very well that we are profoundly different. Basically, prison can be a great school of humanity, good and bad, beyond any romanticism. At one point I used to say quite openly that San Vittore was the best place you could go in Milan...

But FREEDOM was filmed in Turin...
Yes, I stopped going to San Vittore for various reasons in 2004. I started working at Le Vallette in Turin, my own city, and this is where I still go. But the situation in Turin is very different. In Milan, I was in the Penal section, and in contact with inmates doing much longer time, life sentences, for robberies, murders, and even some Red Brigades who had never turned state’s evidence. At Le Vallette, I was involved with the "Prometeo", an experimental section which resembles Don Iridio’s in the film: petty criminals, almost all with a drug problem – even though there are also some doing time for more serious crimes, with also one life convict. In 2006 we were in fact ready to start filming, but then came the amnesty. That August, there was only me and the lifer left in the section... It took another year to rebuild the group.

What was your relationship like with the prisoner-actors?
We had of course been seeing each other for years, as I described before. Though we certainly never talked about making a "real" film. But that time spent together served to build a relationship of trust between us. So, when we did make the film, it wasn’t just the classic "eat and run" movie operation. Instead, the film became part of a longstanding personal relationship, which also included the penitentiary staff and the directors. In fact, over these recent years, prison wardens have been a real revelation. Quite unlike the "prison guard" stereotype, these wardens are intellectuals who deal with situations on the verge of crisis with admirable intelligence and effectiveness. In short, when we finally made the film, there was a very good general climate. Also, the exchange between the film crew (almost none of whom had ever been inside) and the prisoners worked as a stimulus for everyone.

The film, though, is not "on" prison...
No, though it is "in" prison. If films have to be "on" something, FREEDOM talks about religion. I would never have been interested in making a film "on the prison problem". I do that type of work in a different way. And I would treat it with a certain modesty. But the story of the film made it immediately obvious that prison would be an excellent catalyst to transform an "intellectual and philosophical" story into a realistic one with great comedy potential.

What did this mean?
First of all, let me say that I am a very happy and convinced atheist. God (and his silence) is not a problem, it doesn’t trouble me in the least. But I see religion as a response to the great questions of existence, even if I am totally against any form of organized religion and, in general, anyone who decides to speak, in the name of God. I think that in religious myths (and Christianity’s are too) there are fascinating prospects about the meaning of life. For example, I have always wondered what would have happened if Judas, instead of surrendering to the infamous kiss, had simply refused to participate in the self-destruction of Jesus. We would have found ourselves before the paradox of a divine plan bringing a default action against a man’s rebellion. If Jesus had not been betrayed and sentenced, if he had not died and been resurrected – in short, if he had not been able to save the world, as Christians believe, what would have happened?
Though, again, all of this is just thought, not story. But then, suddenly, it flashed through my mind that there was a place where no one would want to be Judas (in public naturally – since inside there are definitely some despicable characters): prison. And particularly when it came to acting out the Passion, no one would want to play that role. I tried to imagine what the director would have done... And that started it all going.

Is it true that you made the film without a screenplay?
I really think that cinema is much more a question of filming and editing, than writing. Particularly when you’re working with twenty real-life prisoners and limited by the prison’s time schedules and, as we discovered later, extremely unpredictable weather conditions – they would not have been convincing actors if they hadn’t acted themselves. There was also an unfathomable element that would never have emerged in well-written lines. It was better to create a climate in which things just happened, and we would be there to film them. Almost like making a documentary: and since I love documentaries more than anything, I certainly didn’t find this intimidating. In fact, I think that it is precisely the continuous shift between the documentary level and the fiction level that is one of the driving forces of the film, right up to the surprise ending...

The realistic element is very strong, but there is also the musical.
Exactly. This was another apparently crazy challenge, but if you don’t take risks, you just stick to genre films... which I have also made in my career. But precisely because of this, you want to test yourself with something new. I have often insisted that "stylistic coherency" is a weakness, not a strength. This doesn’t mean that you mustn’t take style in mind, but it has to be reinvented with each new film...
A musical comedy in prison was already daring, and then in this film there was also the religious theme. This carried with it a thousand associations, from the Vatican-type musicals like Maria di Nazareth to Jesus Christ Superstar... But for me, the real problem was that I wasn’t working with professionals, but with prisoners whose reaction, when I threw out the idea that they would have to dance, was immediately: “What do you think we are, fags?” With this human material you needed a very special approach and I have to thank Laura Mazza, our choreographer. The choreographies in the film are not technically perfect, but I would call them profoundly honest, sort of midway between Pina Bausch and Don Lurio, if Laura won’t be angry... All of the preparation for the musical part, including the songs, was the part the prisoners became most excited about. Perhaps because it expressed a physicality that in prison simply does not exist.

And the choice of the actors?
Kasia Smutniak was one of the actresses I had been watching for some time. In addition to having an extraordinary face to film, she seemed to possess many qualities that had never been recognized. In FREEDOM, I needed an actress who was very feminine, but also combative, a sort of David who fights incommensurable Goliaths, that is, in this case, the Institution and God himself. Yet, always with lightness and an almost childlike irresponsibility. I am very happy with the result. And, you should remember that just a month before the film, she had never danced or played the accordion. Fabio Troiano is, of course, an actor I like very much. But here too, I wanted him to portray a different type of role than what he had been obliged to play since the days of DOPO MEZZANOTTE. Here, he had to play a man with authority, though ill at ease in his private life. And then, there was the idea of having him speak in Neapolitan dialect (his family is from Castellamare), just as Luigi Pagano did, the former director of San Vittore. So I arranged for them to meet, and that way Fabio could build his character on a real model.
Gianluca Gobbi, since the time of TUTTI GIU’ PER TERRA, is one of my favorite actors. He is a "mission impossible" man, an actor who can create extreme characters without ever slipping into the stereotype or grotesque. Don Iridio is in some ways Irena’s "enemy", but I didn’t want to make him into a negative character. He is simply someone who has made religious obedience a way of life.
The same goes for the character of Irena’s fiancé. I was looking for someone who was "negative", but not in the usual way. That made me think of Cristiano Godano, the band leader of Marlene Kuntz, a rockstar. I think that Cristiano really had a lot of fun transforming himself and making fun of the idiosyncrasies of prima donnas. He did this to the point that he really did become, as I had asked him to, “ineffably unbearable". And finally, there was Luciana, meaning Littizzetto. Luciana had come with me to the prison privately on other occasions to help out. When I offered her a cameo role in the film she started asking: “What do I have to do? Be a teacher? A doctor? An officer?...” I kept saying “No"... Then, on the phone, there was a pause, and then a sudden change of tone: “You’re not going to have me be a nun are you?”. Yes, precisely. Personally, I don’t find her bad at all in that habit...

This film marks another phase in your experimentation with digital cinema...
Yes, I put together the Dopo mezzanotte crew again for FREEDOM, starting from Dante Cecchin, director of photography. It’s not that I am only for digital, but there are definitely situations in which technology, in addition to solving problems, opens up unusual expressive possibilities. Filming in a prison means that you are not in control of the set but simply a guest. So, it was clear from the first that only digital would give us the speed and quality to allow me to improvise the way I like to. Even taking into account the weather (and during the shoot we had some incredible storms, as you can see in the dance scene with Kasia Smutniak – it really did begin with the sun shining and ended under torrential rains). My previous experience had also shown me the limits of a certain digital system, great for interiors and night scenes, but very weak in contrasting exteriors and interiors. Dante found a solution, and we used the Panavision Genesis camera in our film for the first time in Italy. In the film, the interaction between the "fiction" images and the documentary material was very important. These were partially ’stolen’ with an ordinary camera during shooting, but also before I had even thought of making the film.
[INTERVIEW WITH DAVIDE FERRARIO]