It is said that when a dream begins to come true a small new star begins to shine: David D’Addato, a young man from Trani with a passion for cinema since he was a child, to realize the dream of “making” Cinema he is putting all of himself: and recently he experienced the emotion of finding himself in none other than the atmosphere of the Venice Film Festival, (during the pre-opening evening of the days of the authors that this year also inaugurated our international film festival), with a short film in which he appeared as director of photography together with his team. “I dreamed that in Milan there was the sea”was awarded in the Memori Ciak section of the Bookciak, Azione! competition, which has none other than Tahar Ben Jelloun as honorary president of the jury.
Davide studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Foggia, the flagship of the Region for high-level university education in art and music. A work of preparation and training at 360 degrees on every aspect of film production, from the screenplay to the direction, from the story to the photography, inspired by the productions of great masters among whom he loves to quote Fellini, Bergman, Wong Kar-waiIt was at the Academy that he met a group of friends with whom he began to produce small works, first to pass exams, and then to participate in competitions of national level and, as in the case of Venice, of international prestige: Mattia de Gennaro, who wrote and directed the opera, Beatrice Fernandes De Sousa, Alessandra Quaquarelli, Gabriele Ciavarella, Umberto JR Contini.
With the short film “I dreamed that in Milan there was the sea”, freely inspired by the book “The boy in the blue overalls”, Davide and his friends told the story of the immigrant working class in Milan, addressing a still dramatically current issue such as child exploitation. A short film that, through careful historical documentation and a deep narrative sensitivity, was able to touch the hearts of the audience and the jury, underlining how alive and urgent the reflection on these realities still is but also the way in which it should be told, as a story of the past that becomes a profound reflection for the present and the future.
From Trani to Venice, his journey is a testament to how love for one’s work and the strength of teamwork can lead to unimaginable results.
What are your next projects Davide, your next dream? we asked him.”For now I’m focused on graduating and trying to take the test at the Centro Sperimentale in Rome, but my biggest dream is to be able to make my own film as a director”: love, tenacity, commitment and the humility of those who want to learn to grow and improve themselves professionally and humanly are all there.
The prestigious recognition in Venice is a milestone that can be a new precious starting point for this young talent from Trani who can only make the City proud. After the Venetian premiere, in fact, “Ho sognato che a Milano c’era il mare” will participate, together with the other winning bookciak, in a European tour through a precious circuit of Italian festivals (Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema di Pesaro, Premio Solinas, Festival Premio Emilio Lussu, Festa di Cinema del Reale, Le Giornate della Luce, Biografilm), to then land in France at the literary review Festival Vo-Vf, traduire le monde and in Locarno at the OtherMovie Filmfestival, to which this year, exclusively for our work, the Working Title Film Festival of Vicenza is also added.
In the meantime, the short film will be visible on the official website of the Bookciak Award, Azione.