People don't stop playing because they get old, they get old because they stop playing.
What remains in our body of everything we have experienced? Some elderly people, led by the choreographer Carlo Massari, find themselves playing in the gardens and courtyards of when they were boys and girls. A journey back in time to rediscover the movements linked to childhood and reawaken memories that seemed lost, but which have always remained there, dormant and fragmented in the depths of oneself, like memories that the body has never stopped preserving.
A journey to discover what remains imprinted in the bodies of the games played during childhood, of the experiences lived and of the gestures repeated over and over again; a collective story that collects emotions and develops through the memory of movements: an endless game, in which no one wins because what counts is "being", in sharing the physical action.
Directed by the award-winning director Emanuele Gerosa and produced by Oneworld DocuMakers and Jump Cut, the film was commissioned by Oriente Occidente and born from an original idea by Carlo Massari, produced with the Trentino Historical Museum Foundation, with the collaboration of RAM film festival - Rovereto Civic Museum Foundation and the support of the Caritro Foundation.
The film, lasting 22 minutes, testifies to the experience of a group of people over 70 who found themselves playing in the courtyards when they were boys and girls. Under the guidance of the choreographer Carlo Massari, the participants rediscovered the emotions and memories that the body has preserved over the years, rediscovering themselves capable of playing through memories that they thought were lost.
In Massari's investigation, the game represents a metaphor for life, a medicine of being that allows us to explore physical, psychological and cognitive changes over time. The interest therefore focuses on the use of the playful dimension, essential in the culture of every civilization, to analyze how the body preserves fragments of experience, offering a space for free expression, dialogue and community building.
Gerosa's documentary captures the experience of the protagonists who, through play, memory, laughter and the invention of stories, managed to free themselves from the conventions of adulthood, rediscovering that freedom typical of childhood, an experience that they thought had now vanished and which instead they rediscovered imprinted in their bodies.
Premiered on October 6, 2024 as part of the RAM Film Festival, Un, due, tre... stella! was selected to participate in the 38th edition of the Bolzano Film Festival in the Local Heroes section and in the competition for the IDM Film Commission Südtirol Award.
Body movement has a profound transformative and memory-recovery power, which extends not only to the individual who performs it, but also to relationships and the surrounding world. Firstly through a personal transformation: the body, through dance, theatre, performance or other forms of artistic expression, becomes an instrument of self-knowledge and self-expression, allowing one to explore deep emotions, contributing to a process of personal growth.
A second level concerns that of relationships with the Other: through gesture and body movement we connect on an emotional and intuitive level, overcoming linguistic or cultural barriers. The movement of the body, in this case activated by the game, can also represent a useful device for bringing back distant memories that were thought to be lost.
Recovering movements stored in the muscles and joints not only makes you aware of remembering games and dynamics but also allows childhood memories to emerge which, combined with those of others, contribute to the creation of collective memory.
Cast Federica Battisti, Maria Francesca Belardo, Francesca Bellini, Giovanna Bertolini, Veronica Boniotti, Maria Grazia Casetti, Cristina Codecà, Roberto Dell'Uomo, Laura Di Masi, Olga Esposito, Claudia Lorenzi, Carlo Massari, Franco Mosna, Graziella Paoli, Patrizia Pucci, Alice Scarpa
From an original idea by Carlo Massari
A project by C&C Company and Oriente Ovest
A production by Oriente Ovest with the Trentino Historical Museum Foundation
In collaboration with RAM film festival - Rovereto Civic Museum Foundation
With the support of the Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto Foundation
Made by Oneworld DocuMakers and Jump Cut
Directed by Emanuele Gerosa
Director of photography Sebastiano Luca Insinga
Production Chiara Nicoletti
Music Stefano Raffaelli
Sound design Juan Moretti
Color correction Giorgia Pasolli
