Italy, Germany

Animation

Inspired by a true story, the film tells the courageous choice of two boys, aged 11 and 14, who, in Sardinia in 1940, on the eve of the Second World War, free a herd of horses destined for the front. An idealistic and rebellious gesture that becomes a symbol of freedom and resistance.

Written & directed by: Giovanni Columbu
Produced by: Daniele Maggioni, Flavia Oerwig
Production Design: Alessandro Olla, Jan Visocky, André Feldhouse
Sound: Massimo Mariani, Nüjin Kartal, Alexander Leo
Animation: Giovanni Columbu
Casting: Giovanni Columbu
Cast: Simonetta Columbu (Anna), Bruno Sedda (Ventura), Andrea Sedda (Michele)

Statement of the director:
Being my first animated feature film, the drawings were made by myself, with the aim of restoring uniqueness and freedom to the primary and constitutive element of the drawing, namely the sign, otherwise destined to conform to pre-established models. After the initial research lasting around two years, the work was supported by several collaborators who were asked to cut out particular masks to be positioned along the profiles of the drawings. This allowed to generate, even in the animation processes, a sort of "iconic paradox" given by very rapid, impulsive and gestural signs, which nevertheless find a perfect conclusion on the previously defined profiles.
I knew that knowledge, in its incessant progress, always acquires new insights and simultaneously loses some of its previous knowledge. I wanted to rediscover and retrace the first steps and any forgotten or excluded processes that had accompanied the origin of moving images.
At first, I knew nothing about how animation worked. I began by trying to transform Muybridge's frames into painted images. The dynamics were more imperfect than ever but also endowed with an unexpected evocative power. They recalled the defects of motion picture film.
Colour generates chemical reactions and microcosms on paper that reflect the universal laws of nature. The mind guides the hand, and the hand suggests new representations to the mind.
The horses' manes, eyes, nostrils, and hooves provide a counterpoint to the train's mechanical elements: the pistons, pressure gauges, wheels, tunnels, and smoke. I dedicated research to each of these elements.
It's clear that a sign, understood in this way, cannot be completely subjugated and reduced to a functional element of the drawing and a completely predetermined project. Like an actor, the sign also has its own character and, in a certain sense, "performs," contributing to the performance by offering its own independent contribution.
Based on this "dogma," I proceeded with enthusiasm, producing approximately 30,000 drawings, almost to the point of exhaustion.
Why the paper? Because paper is less obedient. Processing on paper tends toward imperfection, but even this prerogative in this work seemed to me to be a virtue. The discontinuity in the thickness of the colours, the inevitable stains and scratches become expressive factors and give rise to a second narrative that testifies to the methods of creation.
I like to leave margins in drawings to show how they were conceived. And the figures never enter or exit the image, but appear and disappear within it, because they represent memories, or ghosts.
The beauty I love most comes from actions that are neither entirely intentional nor entirely conscious.

Production:
Luches
https://balentes.it/

World Sales:
Giovanni Columbu