AND what if for once it were the kids, perhaps the most “difficult”, the last in line, who taught the adults? He started from here, from an imaginary school backwards Rodolfo Bisatti, author and director of On Life-The Children’s University. A film that reflects on our educational system and digital natives, here masters of a new language where the virtual world of video games becomes a democratic space, accessible to all, even those who are usually excluded.
Benedetta Barzini, from top model to actress
In fact, they are the ones who “take the chair” in the film children with mental and physical disabilities, but also young asylum seekers and Serbian Roma teenagers, the so-called “social outcasts” in short, the students of the Multisensory Video Literacy laboratory conducted by Bisatti from which the project was born. They are the “actors” of this unconventional production which, to investigate inclusiveness and adult-teenagers dialogue, chooses authenticity, a “real” cinema which, due to its important social value, immediately convinced the protagonist of the film, Benedetta Barzini, the first Italian top model in history.
A woman who dated Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Truman Capote in 1960s New York. A person from the important family – stepsister of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli and daughter of Luigi Barzini, correspondent of the Corriere della Sera – a soul that has never stopped getting involved.
At 40, after having paraded on the most prestigious catwalks in the world, he began to teach with passion History of Dress and Anthropology of Fashion at the University of Urbino and now here she is on the set for a new challenge.
Benedetta Barzini (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)
The school upside down
«In the film I am Olimpia, a countess who has transformed her old villa into a family home» she tells us. «To meet the economic needs and enhance the skills of her boys, Olimpia has created On Life – the Children’s Universityhis school upside down». Filming of the film named after the school of OlympiaEuropean co-production led by Kineofilm (Italy), will begin this summer in Friuli Venezia Giulia, the place where everything was born. The project is the result of years of laboratory experimentation, with clear objectives.
Always on the side of the last
«The urgency that requires me to tackle this work» says the director Rodolfo Bisatti, «is the desire to contribute as a storyteller to change the school and consequently a piece of society. Starting from the last row of pews. I’ve always been on the side of the last ones not out of a sense of solidarity, but because they are the most interesting, the ones who really have something to say.
I have been collaborating for years with girls and boys expelled for one thing or another from the center of the community. Masters of the digital language, so much vilified by some “wise” who point to video games as absolute evil, unaware that for many kids, even with psychophysical disabilities, the possibility of interacting with the game is a precious opportunity for social relationships. Having teenage teachers who feed us from their atrocious and disarming innocence is a privilege, an unmissable opportunity for growth. This film is an opportunity to express my gratitude to the emerging generations, to those who will transform this Earth, masters of the fiery alphabet of becoming».
A new challenge
An adventure that Benedetta Barzini accepted willingly. What drove her?
«There’s always a first time, I thought so even when I started teaching, so despite my eighty years and the fear of not being up to it, I decided to take the plunge. What convinced me was the seriousness of the director, a person who has not fallen into the trap of vanity, a man who works with passion on an interesting idea, the contrast between the old and the new world».
The kids Olimpia takes care of are the future while she represents the past that ignores technology.
«I look a lot like the character, my cell phone is an old Nokia, with those new multifunctional phones I wouldn’t know where to start. But in the film there is not only the generational contrast, there is also talk of hidden loves. I like this way of expressing feelings, I can’t stand scenes with kisses and exposed intimacies. Here, in addition to Olimpia’s love for boys, the noblewoman exchanges glances with an elderly gentleman, perhaps an old love of hers or perhaps a new one of hers, who knows… ».
A young rebel
What can you tell us about Countess Olimpia, how do you imagine her?
«She’s a lady who doesn’t want to be a lady, nothing to do with the whining heir looking for a rich owner, this is a real noblewoman who chooses to do an important human action and does it together with all her boys . A path full of obstacles, but everything will be overcome by the strength of the group. I like her very much because her work is silent, self-effacing, she speaks with her eyes, not with clamorous actions. In short, the opposite of what is out there, in this film there is modesty. She has been repeatedly called a young “rebel”».
Old age is a splendid age
What do you think of this statement?
«Rebel, well… I think transgressions lead nowhere if they are only opposition to tradition. What is needed instead is to have a scale of values that does not correspond to what society requires. This is not being rebellious, but having the courage to be yourself. Getting out of imposed roles, something that also has to do with the Great Age. I like old age very much because after so many years you can have a more complete idea of facts and people. And then being old makes you selective because everything slows down, and slowing down is a great privilege compared to the haste that is imposed. Furthermore, as an elderly woman you are far from misunderstandings, for example you can tell a man “How beautiful you are”, without creating consequences. On the aesthetic front, then, passing “the Cape of Good Hope” is fantastic: if you’re ugly, it doesn’t matter to you, and if someone is interested in you, it’s for who you are. Finally, one thing that makes me happy is feeling far from any form of competition, even on the set, no star anxiety, no greed: at my age you can’t make a career in cinema. And this is a great liberation, at 80 you have nothing to sell, much less yourself ».
At school there is no obligation to listen
Let’s go back to the school system, the founding theme of the film. What do you think of our educational model?
«I never went to school in Italy, but through the experience of my children and grandchildren I can say that teachers don’t ask enough doubts, they move on fake certainties that no longer work. There is an obligation to obey, to study, to sit well at the table, but there is no obligation to listen, the most important thing. If you know how to listen you have made the person in front of you able to speak to you, on the contrary you will find yourself a wall. And finally, on the gender education front, an appeal she would like to make to women. The major criticisms are for mothers, it is women who educate future men, if they continue to make distinctions between males and females, things will never change. It’s a big responsibility. And then, remember, love is not holding, love is letting go.
Anyone wishing to participate in the On Life-L’Università dei Bambini enterprise with suggestions, testimonials, contributions, can contact the Kineofilm production company by email: [email protected].
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