In Fourteenth World Autism Awareness Day, the Association of Bari Vinci Con Noi gives us the short film Not stupid: a few intense and delicate minutes, to leave us amazed. The protagonist, Pin, played by the Bari-based actor Mingo de Pasquale, is an adult with autism, an extreme and delicate character, who opens the doors of his world with simplicity. An adult man who preserves and shows without restraint his being a child, with disarming spontaneity. A wordless dialogue between Pin and a little girl, where glances and silences, together with small gestures, become an encounter.
Declare Stefania D’Elia president of the Association: “I am touched by the way in which si Mingo got involved, struck by these bizarre and authentic children, during a sporting event, in which he asked me to be able to approach. The closer he got, the more he felt the urge to be part of that world. Mingo has embraced our battle, becoming part of our group. The way in which he studied, with tact and delicacy, every gesture, every tic, of many of our children, allowed him to tiptoe into their magical world “.
Not stupid it is the result of a year of study and experimentation in close contact with the young people of the association, which led to the realization of a project divided into three phases (Short Film, Film, Multifunctional Centers) which starts April 2, World Autism Awareness Day, with the national launch of the short film, the first step of this project, which aims to shed a light on this issue, promote social promotion, collect collaborations and funds to carry out the project Not stupid with the production of the film and the creation of multipurpose centers for the “after us”.
The Bari Association Win With Us has been involved for nine years in the Bari area in creating recreational and sports courses in swimming, football and dance for people diagnosed with autism or intellectual-relational disabilities from 3 to 40 years. The project Not stupid was born from the idea of promote a real cultural transformation of knowledge and awareness on autism through the dissemination of an audiovisual and cinematographic project, which helps to eliminate prejudices and mistrust.
The president Stefania D’Elia Vincenzo’s mother, who is now almost fifteen years old, declares: “Don’t call us mothers courage; our children are not special but original, one of the many variations that beauty has. We are rock’n’roll mothers, like our children. They have a superior intelligence to us, which they do not know how to “manage”. An American study has defined them as a sort of robot for which we do not yet have the instruction booklet that allows us to give them the opportunity to express themselves at their best. They have a more sophisticated sensory perception than we do: they see, they hear more than we do, come a strange kind of superhero … “.
Stefania is grateful to her son for having equipped her with special lenses, thanks to which he can see the world from another point of view and a new life that – says Stefania – without him, would be unimaginable. He adds: “This project is like a son: it was born from the meeting with Mingo de Pasquale, also from Bari, at a sporting event. The actor was impressed by our boys and from there his idea was born that met mine. In the script I put a lot of Vincenzo and me, of our personal history and when I saw it edited, I cried. In Pin, Mingo, who studied Vincenzo thoroughly, showed me my child, who is now fifteen, projected into the future. In the last scene, when he goes away with his head bowed to one side, I see him as an adult and, every time, I feel a very strong emotion ”.
“Hor wanted it to be a short played on subtraction – he explains Antonio Palumbo – no dialogue, minimal musical commentary, soft colors tending towards cold tones. I wanted the protagonist’s tics not to become a caricature, so that the viewer could enter the world of Pin in a few seconds ”.
“An artistic commitment – he declares Mingo de Pasquale – which made me passionate about the world of autism that I did not know, after a completely random encounter. A falling in love that forced me to ask myself: why are we only talking about children? As these children grow up, it becomes even more difficult to integrate into society and the world of work. They become “burdens” when the parents become elderly, for that “after us”, which worries so many families. Pin, he gave me a lot and it wasn’t easy to get rid of those gestures, those tics that had crept into me. The dialogue with the child is perhaps the most beautiful ever, because in a universal language, that of the heart. An important project for which I intend to commit myself so that the short film by Pin becomes a film in support of this ambitious and important project ”.
Pin teaches us to look confidently at those who are probably just different from us, because it is nice to be surprised and then up close, perhaps, no one is normal!