Diehards
Synopsis:
Diehards tells a sad story of resistance. The Circolo Combattenti e Reduci of Milan, opened in 1919 to house veterans of the First World War, is about to disappear. Young and old members, the two souls of the place, fight against a deaf politics. Oscar, Lillo and Luciano, born in 1941, threaten to blow up the Municipality if the Circolo were to disappear. Gandolfo, Marta and Eleonora, young members in love with the place, reflect on its uncertain future. Inside, an age-old wisteria becomes the symbol of a noble resistance, in which nature has the right to win over the progress. A choral story, that invites us to reflect on the future of Italy and its historical memory.
Producer: Andrea Cèpparo
Directors: Alessandro Carlozzo, Luca Cèpparo
Nation: Italy
Estimated length: 60 minutes
Screenplay: Alessandro Carlozzo, Luca Cèpparo
Editing: Alessandro Carlozzo, Luca Cèpparo
Photography: Alessandro Carlozzo, Luca Cèpparo
Production: Story Farm s.a.s.
Budget forecast: 90.000€
Funding confirmed: 30.000 €
Missing resources: 60.000 €
Objective: PRE-SALES, ACQUISITION, DISTRIBUTION
Shooting start: March, 2019
Planned end of shooting: Autumn/Winter 2024
Director’s notes:
We wanted to observe and narrate a characteristic place in Milan, paying homage to it with an authentic portrait. We have found a fragile place, a symbol of an Italian identity that is being lost throughout the whole country. We never expected to become witnesses of a choral story, where young and old people talked to us about resistance, in defense of the city of Milan and its values. A true story, that touched our soul and made us live the most genuine soul of Milan.
Production notes:
The first part of the story was filmed in 2019. Following the important media response deriving from the threat of closure of the Circolo by the Municipality and the felling of the centuries-old wisteria kept inside, at the beginning of 2023 we decided to start over, self-financing again. Today, part of the Circolo has already been demolished to make space for a new architectural project. Our goal is to experience and document the whole story in the next two years.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY
Alessandro Carlozzo
Over the years, I have collaborated with various agencies and production companies, producing commercials, fashion films and documentaries. My best approach for documenting a story is the observational documentary, a genre to which “Destino Bianco” belongs, a film I’ve been shooting since 4 years, focused on the theme of suicide in the world of farmers.
Filography: Stigma Invisibile (2021), Stigma invisibile – Series, (2021) Diehards (in produzione), Destino Bianco (in produzione).
Luca Cèpparo
Thanks to the collaborations with BBC, National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery and other brands, I fell in love with documentaries and started always looking for higher quality standards. I first worked as a professional photographer and filmmaker. Today, I work as a director, maintaining an active role as a filmmaker.
Filmography: Stigma Invisibile (Discovery+ – 2021), Far away (Warner Music – 2022), Gian Paolo Barbieri – L’uomo e la bellezza (2022), Diehards (in produzione).
PRODUCTION Story Farm s.a.s. | PRODUCER Andrea Cèpparo | CONTACTS acepparo@storyfarm.it
Story Farm is a production company established in 2020. For Discovery it produced Invisible Stigma (docu + series) for World AIDS day. It collaborates with Sony Music on documentary and web productions. In collaboration with Zelig, he produced two editions of La Cademy di Crodino for Campari. He produces audio content (podcasts and audio books) for Mondadori, Harper Collins, RCS.
Andrea Cèpparo has collaborated with NatGeo, Discovery, BBC, AETN, among others.