Happy face: Italian film director Alessia Scarso holds a little Italo doll when in Jakarta to screen her film, Italo, which tells a heartwarming friendship of a lonely boy and a stray dog
span class="caption">Happy face: Italian film director Alessia Scarso holds a little Italo doll when in Jakarta to screen her film, Italo, which tells a heartwarming friendship of a lonely boy and a stray dog.(JP/Yuliasri Perdani)
There is a saying in Hollywood that filmmakers should never work with children or animals. Italian director Alessia Scarso breaks the rule in her feature debut, Italo.
Alessia Scarso’s Italo tells of a heartwarming friendship between a lonely boy and a stray dog set in the Sicilian town of Scicli.
The film is one of 78 films being showcased at the 16th annual Europe on Screen (EoS) film festival, taking place in six cities in Indonesia from April 24 until May 8.
“It is important for me and Sicily because it is an amazing and true story about this special dog that lived in Scicli some years ago,” Alessia, who spent her childhood on Sicily Island, said at the Instituto Italiano di Cultura Jakarta for the festival.
The film is inspired by a true story in Scicli, which applied zero-tolerance on stray dogs after a pack of stray dogs attacked a little boy to death in 2009.
When a honey colored mongrel, given the name Italo, wanders through the town, everybody wants to get rid of it.
The affectionate canine comes to all town events, from weddings to funerals, and accompanies students to school. Italo even saves a young girl from a thief. The dog eventually touches residents’ hearts and receives the title of honorary citizen.
“After reading the news about Italo, I went back to Sicily to see the dog. It, indeed, went to funerals, Sunday Mass and school,” she said while holding a little Italo doll throughout the interview.
Alessia, who has established herself as editor and post-production coordinator, decided to adapt Italo’s story to the silver screen.
“I worked in movies for 15 years and for my first feature I wanted to make a love story. The movie, Italo, is not a typical love story as it centers on a dog. But, I feel Italo’s story is special.”
In the movie, Alessia created the character of Meno (Vincenzo Lauretta), a lonely and introverted 10-year-old boy who befriends a good natured stray dog by the name of Italo. This created a dilemma for Mano’s father, Mayor Antonio Blanco (Marco Bocci), who faces pressure from residents to ban stray dogs.
“Talking through child characters enables us to not only touch children but also the child in every one of us,” she said about the development of Meno’s character.
The movie features the best actors that Sicily offers, and the children — mostly first-time actors — were chosen from an audition participated by 3,000 children in the area.
“The director, producer, screenwriter, director of photography, art director, editor, costume designer and makeup artist are all women.”
Having a female crew was not something she planned, Alessia noted.
“What’s important to me is that they are professional. I hope the system sees it this way. When you think in terms of women and men, you are discriminating.”
The real Italo passed away in 2011 while Alessia was drafting the script. Playing Italo is Tomak, a trained Golden Retriever that shares similarities with the real Italo.
While relatively having no difficulties working with children, Alessi faced a challenge working with the dog during the six-week filming.
Italo will be screened on May 7 at Art Cinema, Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center, Jakarta; and on May 8 at Grand Aston Medan, North Sumatra.
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