I'm Not Scared

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I'm Not Scared(.Y.)
Movie poster for I'm Not Scared
Directed by	Gabriele Salvatores
Produced by	Marco Chimenz Giovanni Stabilini Maurizio Totti Riccardo Tozzi
Written by	Niccolò Ammaniti Francesca Marciano (screenplay)
Starring	Giuseppe Cristiano Mattia Di Pierro Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
Music by	Ezio Bosso
Distributed by	Capitol Films Medusa Distribuzione Miramax Films (USA)
Release date(s)	March 14, 2003 April 9, 2004 (USA)
Running time	108 min.
Country	Italy Spain United Kingdom
Language	Italian
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

I'm Not Scared (Io Non Ho Paura) is an Italian novel by Niccolò Ammaniti, published in 2001. It won the 2001 Viareggio-Repaci Prize for Fiction and has already been sold in twenty languages. It has sold nearly 700,000 copies since its publication in 2001. The translation in English is by Jonathan Hunt, hardcover and paperback, Canongate, 2003. ^[1]

In 2003 it was made into a film, directed by Gabriele Salvatores, with Italo Petriccione as the cinematographer. Two days after Io Non Ho Paura appeared at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2003, thirty-two countries had purchased the film. The Domestic Box-Office Total grossed $1,615,328. ^[2]

The film score is primarily by a string quartet (the masterful Quartetto d’Archi di Torino) that includes original music by Ezio Bosso and Pepo Scherman as well as work by Canadian Michael Galasso. (Clips from the soundtrack can be heard at the Io Non Ho Paura official Italian website.)

1 Historical Context
2 Plot
3 Cast
4 Crew
5 About the Film
6 Awards
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Historical Context

The 1970s in Italy, referred to in Italian as gli anni di piombo, were a time of turmoil and terrorism. It became alarmingly common to kidnap people from the North and transport them to the South or to Sardinia where they would be hidden and sometimes killed unless the ransom was paid. The setting of this film, 1978, was the year in which kidnappings in Italy reached an all-time peak of nearly 600 (including, famously, that of Aldo Moro, who was murdered after his disappearance). Although many kidnappings were politically motivated, children of wealthy northern families were targeted as well. It became such a problem that the Italian government decided to automatically freeze the assets of any families whose children had been kidnapped and contacted by people wanting a ransom to discourage this phenomenon. This story is loosely based on a true story of a kidnapped boy from Milan.

[edit] Plot

Original movie poster for I'm Not Scared.

The film takes place in 1978, in a fictional town called Acqua Traverse in Southern Italy, during the hottest summer of the century. Ten year-old Michele, exquisitely performed by first-time actor Giuseppe Cristiano, and a group of friends set out across the scorched wheat fields on their bikes. While exploring a deserted farmhouse, Michele discovers what he believes to be the dead body of a boy his own age in a cavernous hole. He keeps the horrific secret to himself, and later returns to the site to find that the boy, Filippo (Mattia Di Pierro), is not dead but weak, confused and unable to account for his own presence - likely suffering cotard delusion. Michele visits him regularly, bringing him food and water. Eventually Michele learns that Filippo was kidnapped, and virtually every adult in the tiny community, including his own parents, are involved. Instead of divulging his finding to his overburdened mother (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) or dismissive father (Dino Abbrescia), Michele decides he must do something - and the story builds to a heart-stopping climax.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Giuseppe Cristiano	Michele Amitrano
Mattia Di Pierro	Filippo Carducci
Giulia Matturo	Maria Amitrano
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón	Anna
Dino Abbrescia	Pino Amitrano
Giorgio Careccia	Felice Natale
Diego Abatantuono	Sergio Materia
Fabio Tetta	Teschio Natale
Stefano Biase	Salvatore Scardaccione
Fabio Antonacci	Remo Marzano
Adriana Conserva	Barbara Mura
Susy Sanchez	Filippo's Mother
Antonella Stefanucci	Assunta
Riccardo Zinna	Pietro Mura
Michele Vasca	Candela

[edit] Crew

Name	Position
Gabriele Salvatores	Director
Francesa Marciano	Screenwriter
Niccolo Ammaniti	Screenwriter
Maurizio Totti	Producer
Riccardo Tozzi	Producer
Giovanni Stabilini	Producer
Marco Chimenz	Producer

[edit] About the Film

In a 2003 interview for Rome’s L’Unita, Ammaniti recalled that the idea of his book Io Non Ho Paura came to him during a road trip he took to Puglia in the late 1990s.

The setting of the film is in an area of Italy where the director spent his youth, in Basilicata and Puglia. The primary set is in the countryside near Melfi (population roughly 16,000), due north of Potenza. Many reviews misidentify the film’s setting as Tuscany, because of the beautiful scenery or Sicily, because crime is involved. Salvatores chose to challenge the kind of Italian film that typically becomes popular on the foreign market: “the beautiful ocean, the nostalgic past, mafia, pizza, and mandolins.” After the release of this film, Salvatores was asked often about the connection between kidnapping and the South of Italy regarding Italy's history. He mentioned in an interview that although the film's mystery revolves around a kidnapping, the film is not about kidnapping, it is about the journey and loss of innocence of young boy, the main character, Michele. ^[3]

In the book and film, the setting is in a fictional town called Acqua Traverse, or literally water crossings. It is said to be in a province of Lucignano, not to be confused with Lucignano which is in the province of Arezzo, part of the region Tuscany.

A strong primary color scheme was used in the filming technique of this movie to portray the way children see the world, and focusing on specific objects that interest them with a close-up view. The vivid scenery in this film is one of its most recognized characteristics. There are many views of fields and hills of wheat, this endless land being the backyard for the children of Acqua Traverse and the setting to their childhood adventures.

The majority of the actors in the film, especially the children, were local citizens who'd never acted before, let alone seen a film crew in their tiny town. The director spoke with psychologists about the impact filming in that small town may have on the residents. The filmmakers needed to explain to the parents of the children who were acting in the film that this was not a ticket to Hollywood. The veteran actors Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Dino Abbrescia and Giorgio Careccia were cast in the adult roles. ^[4]

[edit] Awards

Berlin International Film Festival 2003: Nominated, Golden Berlin Bear, Gabriele Salvatores
European Film Awards 2003: Nominated, Best Cinematographer, Italo Petriccione
Flaiano Film Festival 2003: Won, Audience Award for Best Actor, Giuseppe Crisiano, Won, Best Film Score, Ezio Bosso, Won, Best Screenplay, Niccolo Ammaniti
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists 2003: Won, Best Cinematrography, Italo Petriccione, Won, Best Director, Gabriele Salvatores, Won, Best Supporting Actor, Diego Abatantuono, Nominated, Best Producer, Nominated, Best Score, Ezio Bosso, Pepo Scherman, Nominated, Best Screenplay, Niccolo Ammanti, Francesca Marciano, Nominated, Best Sound, Maruo Lazzaro
David di Donatello Awards 2004: Nominated, Best Film, Maurizio Totti, RIccardo Tozzi, Gabriele Salvatores, Nominated, Best Music, Ezio Bosso, Nominated, Best Sound, Mauro Lazzaro, Nominated, Best Supporting Actor, Diego Abatanuono, Won, Best Cinematography, Italo Petriccione, Won, Gabriele Salvatores
Golden Trailer Awards 2004: Nominated, Best Foreign Independent
Young Artists Awards 2004: Nominated, Best International Feature Film
Bodil Awards 2005: Nominated, Best Non-American Film, Gabriele Salvatores
Edgar Allan Poe Awards 2005: Nominated, Best Motion Picture Screenplay, Francesca Marciano, Niccolo Ammaniti

^[5]