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Ratavoloira

For days, Turin's citizens have been saying they hear voices and shouts coming from the statues in town. Many people suffer from insomnia and gather unconsciously near the statues. The police are completely in the dark. A crime wave hits the city. Until a masked man who calls himself Ratavoloira tries to get the situation in hand.

  • Giulio Maria Cavallini
    Director
  • Giulio Maria Cavallini
    Writer
  • Riccardo Livermore
    Writer
  • Federico Meneghini
    Producer
  • Ludovico Casalone
    Producer
  • Giulio Maria Cavallini
    Producer
  • Riccardo Livermore
    Producer
  • Giulio Maria Cavallini
    Key Cast
    "Tom Pautasso / Ratavoloira"
  • Michele Di Mauro
    Key Cast
    "Nick D’Alessandro / Lo Squalo"
  • Olivia Manescalchi
    Key Cast
    "Tilda Messeri"
  • Riccardo Livermore
    Key Cast
    "Rico Hernández Garcia"
  • Alessio Del Mastro
    Key Cast
    "Carlito Rodriguez Gonzalez"
  • Roberto Briatta
    Key Cast
    "Senzatetto Fidich"
  • Luca Perugini
    Key Cast
    "Pèru Björnsson"
  • Orlando Perera
    Key Cast
    "Orlando Perera"
  • Federico Tolardo
    Key Cast
    "Ispettore"
  • Federico Meneghini
    Editing
  • Ludovico Casalone
    Editing
  • Federico Meneghini
    Cinematographer
  • Ludovico Casalone
    Cinematographer
  • Lorenzo Russo Rainaldi
    Production Designer
  • Francesco Mo
    Composer
  • Alessio Foglia
    Sound Design & Mixing
  • Federico Meneghini
    Visual Effects
  • Francesca Calzolari
    Set Decorator
  • Patrycja Holuk
    Set Decorator
  • Cristina Sabato
    Set Decorator
  • Maria Elena Scorza
    Set Decorator
  • Giulia Bussone
    Makeup Department
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Action, sci-fi, thriller, comedy, drama, noir
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 3 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 19, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    3,747 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    Italian, Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Torino Film Festival
    Torino
    Italy
    November 30, 2021
    Finalist Piemonte Factory
  • New York International Film Awards
    New York
    United States
    May 1, 2022
    Best Action Film
  • Indie Short Fest Los Angeles
    Los Angeles
    United States
    May 1, 2022
    Award of Excellence (Special Jury Mention), may 2022 / Best Film Noir Short, may 2022 / Best Cinematography, may 2022 / Best Original Score, may 2022 / Outstanding Achievement Award (Producer) / Outstanding Achievement Award (Sound Design) / Outstanding Achievement Award (Production Design)
  • Los Angeles Film Awards
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Best Action Film
  • Flickers - Rhode Island International Film Festival

    United States
    Semi-finalist
  • Indie Short Fest Los Angeles

    Best Fantasy Short & Best Original Score Nominee
  • Indie Short Fest Los Angeles
    Los Angeles
    United States
    January 21, 2023
    Best Fantasy Short of the Year
Director Biography - Giulio Maria Cavallini

Born in Turin (Italy), Giulio Maria Cavallini is an italian actor and director. Starts professional acting and directing studies in 2010 attending a two years program at the Sergio Tofano Theatre School in Turin and then a three years BFA at Teatro Stabile di Torino’s Acting Academy founded by Luca Ronconi, getting the final Diploma in 2015. He stars in the tv series "La strada di casa" and the horror feature film "The Plan" (2017). Writes, directs and act in many self-produced projects. In 2016 directs his first theatre show: “#max²”. In 2017 wins the "Best Thriller Award" at Los Angeles Film Awards for his short film “Consequences” (2017), then distributed worldwide on Amazon Prime. In 2020 he is Finalist at the Biennale Under 30 Stage Directors at the 48th International Theatre Festival at La Biennale di Venezia. In 2021 his short film "Ratavoloira" is premiered out of competition at the 39° Torino Film Festival.

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Director Statement

“Ratavoloira” means 'bat' in my local dialect. I had been dreaming for years of creating a superhero that embodied the appearance of my favourite comic book character dropped into the personality of my city, Turin. This is why this short film winks at well-known superhero movies, but has typically Italian characteristics. It distances itself from Hollywood by parodying it, without falling into mockery: you could call it a “Spaghetti Superhero Film”. This film also aims to explore the theme of language and dialect use in mass culture, and especially in the world of superheroes and entertainment for children. In 1998, a team of researchers from Tufts University highlighted with a study how the vast majority of villains in comic book and cartoon stories have a foreign accent: particularly Germanic, Slavic or British English, while henchmen speak dialects and cadences associated with classes with low socioeconomic status such as Italian-American, Latin American or Eastern Europe. Often, these linguistic tropes carry significant cultural discrimination, harnessing the classic contrast: “like us” or “different from us”. This superficial use of dialects in films has been protracted for years, excused because “it is the convention” or, “the audience recognizes the code”. I have tried to highlight this theme with irony by writing henchmen that speak Argentine Spanish, despite the ultimate criminal mastermind in the story being an Italian. A further ironic note that adds comedic colour to the film is the choice of having the hero, Ratavoloira, speak the local language, Turinese dialect. This choice also has a deeper meaning: showing the local dialect as a refuge from a new world that is disorienting, because it has changed the cards on the table without having invented the rules of a new game. In the film, a gloomy Turin is threatened by a megalomaniac artist who, after years of failure, has become a terrorist, and a powerful woman who is corrupt to the core, in a production that mixes comedy, thriller and action. The protagonist is an engineering student at the Politecnico University, a centre of scientific excellence, who in his own way puts himself at the service of the city to protect it, emblematically becoming its symbol: an ironic variation on a thread that goes from Don Quixote to a modern “vigilante". There are many sources for this project, besides Batman of course, (in particular Batman Returns (1992) and Batman Begins (2005)): They Call Me Jeeg (2015) by Gabriele Mainetti, Kick-Ass (2010) by Matthew Vaughn,  and also Evil Eye (1963) by Mario Bava, Double Game (1977) by Carlo Ausino, Zombi (1978) by George A. Romero and the book The Twenty Days of Turin (1977) by Giorgio De Maria.