Experiencing Interruptions?

FRARÌA (SPARK)

Sardinia (Italy), 1920s. Angelo is 15 years old and lives in a small village among the mountains at the beginning of fascist dictatorship. He is very shy, and he is teased because of the disability of his older brother, Agostino. He cannot defend himself and would like to show more self-confidence: like his best friend, the charismatic Bastiano. Life flows in an apparent rural stillness, but the arrival of the Fascist Blackshirts disrupts the peace of the village. While the villagers celebrate in the square in front of a big bonfire, Angelo can no longer hesitate and must decide which side he is on.

  • Alberto Diana
    Director
  • Alberto Diana
    Writer
  • Manuela Buono
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    FRARÌA
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Coming-of-age, Historical
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    July 20, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Torino Film Festival
    Torino
    Italy
    November 27, 2023
    World premiere
  • Passaggi d'autore
    S. Antioco
    Italy
    December 4, 2023
  • Valsusa Film Fest
    Torino
    Italy
    April 25, 2024
  • Figari Film Fest
    Olbia
    Italy
    June 14, 2024
Distribution Information
  • Alberto Diana
    Distributor
    Country: Italy
  • Slingshot Films
    Sales Agent
Director Biography - Alberto Diana

Alberto Diana (Sardinia, 1989) attended a Master’s degree in Creative documentary at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, after graduating in humanities from the University of Cagliari.
His short documentary films have been screened in several international film festivals.
In 2019 his feature documentary Fango rosso (Red Mud) was selected in competition at the 37th edition of Torino Film Festival.
He is developing the script for his first feature film Intra Montes.
Frarìa (Spark) is his first short fiction film.

Filmography:

2023, Frarìa / Spark, 18’
2022, Carta urgente para Colombia / Urgent Letter to Colombia 12’
2021, Pneuma, 17’
2019, Fango Rosso / Red mud, 56’
2017, La famiglia, la patria / Family and Fatherland, 34’
2016, La concorrente / The Contestant, 39’
2011, Barcelona en dos colors / Barelona in two colors, 29’

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

ITALIAN VERSION:
https://vimeo.com/843810016
Psw: FrariasubsITA

Frarìa / Spark is a coming of age, in which a young man confronts his own identity in front of his community: rural Sardinia, a seemingly still place, in which, however, the profound social and political changes that would lead to fascism in the early postwar period were foreshadowed in the daily life.

Angelo feels the pressure of the violence against his elder brother: facing the indifference of the villagers, who become accomplices of the arrogance of the Blackshirts, it is more crucial than ever to take sides. But how is it possible to react, when the whole world seems to be turned against you? How do you overcome your fear? In Italy, talking about individual and collective responsibility under fascism is still taboo for many. What would we have done if we had been in that situation? Would we have acted? Would we have been afraid?

Frarìa / Spark is the story of a young man learning to say "No." The film is loosely based on some of my grandfather's childhood stories that took place in the 1920s, but it is a universal narrative: it is my story as a boy growing up in a small town, but also that of everyone who, regardless of geographic origin and age, has at least once felt crushed in their own town, their own neighborhood, and who, in order to grow up, had to learn to say "No."