Screenplay of PENTACLUB - The Club of the Five

The year is 1968. Five teenage boys dream of running a movie theater in which they will not show pro-war films.
One summer afternoon Giò, Delfo, Max, Ricky and Paolo learn to become trusted friends, indispensable to one another.
A coming-of-age, adventure film about friendship, one with small but large rebellious acts that signal the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood.
A group of friends, who met in the 1960s, was essential to the film’s production. Therefore, Pentaclub is a film about friendship, both on the screen and behind the scenes.

  • Maria Pia Alibrandi
    Writer
  • Roberto Strazzarino
    Writer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Sceneggiatura di PENTACLUB
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Number of Pages:
    24
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Writer Biography - Maria Pia Alibrandi, Roberto Strazzarino

Roberto Strazzarino is 69 years old and was born in Italy. He is the son of parents who worked in the Italian film factory called “Ferrania” and has been a self-taught filmmaker since the times of 8mm.
Since his retirement he has dedicated himself full-time to his passion of filmmaking. He has attended film courses at the Sentieri Selvaggi School in Rome and at the Holden School in Turin. In 2019 he enrolled at New York University where he took the course “Sight and Sound Filmmaking.”

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Writer Statement

The author talks about a topic with which he is familiar, setting the young characters in the Sixties. He presents them with an experience they must go through and where their motivation to act relies on a sense of belonging.
Their dream is considerable, that of running a movie theater in which pro-war films will not be screened.
The adversities for the realization of their dream generate conflicts among the characters: they all behave in ways that put their own selves before the others.
With dedication and an ever-growing desire to create human connections, the characters finally find a balance between their individualism and their relationships with other people. They eventually become a team, they become The Club of Five (Pentaclub) and they understand they are trusted friends, indispensable to one another.
While the dream is what is at stake consciously, the unity of the group turns out to be the unconscious challenge.
The author's personal experience, transposed into the story, provides a sense of uniqueness and authenticity to the experience of the characters.
The actions in the film, so distant in time, become the means to talk about timeless, universal values.
Pentaclub is a film about friendship, both on the screen and behind the scenes because a group of friends, who met in the 1960s, was essential to the film’s production. The director wrote the screenplay together with his wife, while their friends worked on the production design and the costumes.
To visually narrate the transformation of the characters, the director favors, first, the use of shots that highlight the individual actions of the characters (master & coverage). Furthermore, as the group grows into self-awareness, the director progressively adopts the point of view of the group itself, with planned long takes in which the camera and the group move with increasing harmony.