Rome, 2020.
Clara, Matteo, Jacopo, Alessio and Gianmarco are 5 young adults in the autism spectrum united by a fervent passion for music. Singing, playing, and performing are what makes them feel in this world. Thanks to this very talent, they are selected to participate in the Recercare a Mente project, first music workshop for special young adults in Italy executed by the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome.
For a year, the five protagonists take music and singing lessons, study lutherie, restoration and tuning of pianos with the prospect of being able to enter the conservatory as students. The film documents how they dedicate this year to music and how music in turn becomes for them a necessary means of expressing their feelings and overcoming emotions. Music teaches them the harmony of communication from individual to collective just as in an orchestra, yet the sudden global pandemic linked to COVID-19 forces an unforeseen quarantine period and the abrupt interruption of classes putting at risk progress made.
In order to not lose what they have achieved so far, Clara, Matteo, Jacopo, Alessio and Gianmarco, continue to pursue their dreams and find a way to sustain their lessons and meet remotely amongst them through online Zoom and Skype meetings. The documentary also follows this moment of suspension, to finally show the fate of the five protagonists at the end of the course and see if music can really become a profession for them and open doors for a different future.
Produced by Variety Distribution
Executive production Halley Pictures
Director Gino Bianchi
Cinematographer Giorgio Palmera
Special mention Premio Basaglia and the Premio del Pubblico in occasion of the Valdarno Cinema Film Festival 2021
