Disco Boy

Aleksei is a young byelorussian boy who, wrapped in false hope and naive illusions, tries to escape from his home country and an unsatisfactory life. However, the trip takes from the very beginning unexpected directions: arrived in Paris, with neither a homeland nor a past, he’ll find himself obliged to join the Foreign Legion. This is Giacomo Abruzzese’s first movie, and it was the only Italian movie competing at the Berlinale, where it won the Silver Bear for photography. It’s a multi-layered work, like a tower of a moltitudine of iterpretations of pressing contemporary social issues: war, colonialism, immigration, integration, environment. The destiny of the protagonist, alone and wandering, is interwoven with the one of a man and a woman next to Niger River’s waters, and their attempt of looking for self-indentification through a foreign-self will lead them to create a mystic and unbreakable bond, enlighted by ghost-neons: the unexplainable and the sacrum rise and are fullfilled in a dancing ritual. The film is thus animated by several metamorphoses and evolutions that are mirrored by a cinematographic language that, frame by frame, both in the aesthetic and acoustic dimensions, tries to corss its own boundaries.

Produced by: Films Grand Huit, Dugong Films, Panache Productions, Donten & Lacroix, DIVISION

Cast: Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laëtitia Ky, Leon Lučev, Matteo Olivetti, Robert Więckiewicz, Michał Balicki

Regia di Giacomo Abbruzzese

91'

Italia, Francia, Belgio, Polonia

2023