Script File

FERRARA AND THE YOUNG BALBO

Remo returns home after WWI solely desiring to make a life with his fiancée Lucia but finds his city,
Ferrara, disrupted by clashes between socialist leagues and tenants, sharecroppers, landowners.
After falling victim of Socialist Red Guards violence, Remo joins the emerging Fasci di Combattimento
to defend his land, himself and his family. He slowly becomes the right hand of his former Captain
Italo Balbo. The carnage of Piazza D'Accursio (Bologna) as well as the massacre of Castello Estense
(Ferrara) are the reasons for Italo Balbo's descent into political contention and get Mussolini’s trust.
The novel is based on historical events that have fallen into oblivion. Only Remo, Lucia and their
families are fictional, serving the story to narrate the climate and daily life during the so-called “Red
Biennium” and “Black Biennium.”

  • Giampietro Manzalini
    Writer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    FERRARA & IL GIOVANE BALBO
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Genres:
    Period Drama, Political Drama, Romantic Drama, Drama
  • Number of Pages:
    105
  • Language:
    English, Italian
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • PALM SPRINGS INT. SCREENPLAY&PITCH DECK
    1100 N. Palm Canyon Dr. Palm Springs, CA 92262
    January 20, 2025
    quarter finalist tr.n°PSISA6989
  • HOLLYWOOD BEST INDIE FILM AWARDS
    NEW YORK
    March 12, 2025
    selected tr.n°5881
  • PALM SPRINGS INT. SCREENPLAY&PITCH DECK
    Palm Springs
    May 30, 2025
    quarter finalist
  • Int. INDIE Film&Screenplay FF
    Paris
    May 2, 2025
    finalist
  • Cannes World FF
    Cannes (F)
    May 7, 2025
    semi-finalist
Writer Biography - Giampietro Manzalini

“You are donkey… you’ll not get anywhere”. That’s how my teacher called me back to school. I’ll get a BA in Mechanical Engeneering.
Born in Ferrara in a middle-status family, the progenitor, grandfather Giovanni, started in 1924 the business of agricultural mediator and my father and I carried on the tradition. For two years I worked as projectist then moved to the family business. Once my wife passed, I spent a few months volonteering at MONDO X, a life community founded by Father Eligio Gelmini.
I’m 70 years old, I don’t plan things. I realized everything I put myself into. I’d like to pass to my grandchildren the same values of “good/bad”, “on/off”, “yes/no” that lead every choice of my life.
Sports and Hobbies
At the age of 20 I learned the photography tecnique. At 25yo. In Reggio Emilia in 1997 at the Italian Marathon Championship I arrived 411th out of 1,500 participants; I was part of the Ferrara Triathlon competitive team that in 1997 and 1998 won the Italian Championship.
Always passionate about motorcycles, after the experience as a rider in 1978, hindered by my father, I resumed racing with vintage motorbikes between 2009 and 2014. I won the Italian Endurance Classic Bike 500 title in 2010. The following year, I finished 32nd out of 80 at the 4Hrs BIKER CLASSICS at Spa Francorchamps (all former world circuit titled riders). I never excelled, but I always performed well.
I collect antique books of FERRARA, I’m not an historian but a keen observer.
The Pilgrimages.
In 2021, during the pandemic, I did the Camino de Santiago up to Finisterre (925km). In 2022 I walked all the way through the Via Francigena from the Hospice of Gr. St. Bernardo (CH) to St. Maria di Leuca “de Finibus Terrae" (2050 km).

Vittorio Alfieri’s phrase: “Volli! E volli sempre! E fortissimamente volli” has always been my leitmotiv.
This is me!

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