A hand drawn short film written and directed by Alessandro Dordoni, animated by Natasza Cetner based on the memoirs of Alessandro’s grandfather Lino Dordoni.
April 16th, 1945. The end of the War is approaching, but the small Partisan outpost located near the enemy line has to overcome their last major obstacle; resist the surprise attack of 450 SS soldiers.
This project does not want to represent a classic war film. Instead, the aim is to show the human and psychological side of the young Italian partisans who faced a situation way bigger than them. This isn’t a tale of the fight of good vs evil, this is a subtle look at one of the many war episodes that forever changed the lives of its protagonists, regardless of their ideological alignment during the events told. Alessandro developed the script telling the story through Lino’s eyes, taking the audience on a journey in which a young man’s feelings and emotions have to face the atrocity of War.
Fischia il Vento is animated entirely in ink by Natasza Cetner. Using the textured paper the animation gives the impression of sketchbook pages and makes us feel the film truly consists of personal memoirs of Lino Dordoni. Following the animatic storyboard as reference, the animation is done digitally first, in order to fully test the movements and timings, it is then hand-drawn with ink on paper. The camera moves and expressive use of brush strokes let the animation convey the intensity of emotions of the main characters and blur the line between reality and memories.
The animation style is inspired by such pieces as Confusion Through Sand by Danny Madden, I’m OK by Lizzy Hobbs and The Pride of Strathmoor by Einar Baldvin.
Title: Fischia il Vento (The Wind Whistles)
Running Time: 15 min
Colour: Black & White
Genre: Animation, Drama, War
Language: Italian (English Subs)
Written and Directed by: Alessandro Dordoni
Director of Animation: Natasza Cetner
Production Companies: Cardel & OAK9
Executive Producers: Kelley Daniel / Rhiannon Crothers
Animation Producers: Carla Mooney / Delwyn Mooney
Producer: Mimi Thomas
Co-Producer: Mindaugas Jokubaitis
Actors in Order of Appearance: Denio Derni, Luca Torchiani, Francesco Wolf, Andrea Tagliabue, Marco Troiano, Joe Prestia, Vito Buchicchio, Giuseppe Magazzù
Edit & Sound: Alessandro Dordoni
Archive Colour Grade: Ben Turze
Sound Design/Mix: Steve Bond
Illustrator: Francesco Poiana
Storyboard Artist: James Lawson
Composer: Paolo Fornasari
Script Editor: Costanza Bongiorni
Memoirs Translator: Bartolomeo Sala
Graphic Designer: Edoardo Balordi
Recording Studio: Marco Versari
Supported by: ANPI Piacenza, Chrome Productions,
Banca di Piacenza, Rotary Club Piacenza