‘Everything asks for salvation’ by Daniele Mencarelli and ‘Tear Along the Edges’ by Zero limestone, two series with different languages, but which know how to paint from different perspectives, common difficulties: the problems and malaise that young people find themselves facing. These are the two works that won the prize ex-aequo Ciak cures 2023awarded on the occasion of the Salute Festival and which this year was dedicated to the best fiction that recounts the difficulties and hardships of youth, but more generally “the life that breaks in”, as stated by Daniela Minerva who presented the awards.
The need to talk about social issues
The two works were chosen by a jury who evaluated the series with different sensibilities: Dario Manfellotto, president of the Fadoi foundation, William Fishermanprofessor of media economics and entertainment cultures at the University of Bologna, Gabriella Pravettonidirector of the psycho-oncology division of the European Institute of Oncology, Daniela Cardiniassociate professor in television languages at the Iulm university of Milan, Giuseppe Lavenia, president of the national association for technological addictions, GAP, Cyberbullying Di.Te, and female journalists Letizia Gabaglio and Valeria Pini.
The works, real “medical dramas”, as explained by Manfellotto, have “a strong role in information and health education” and were able to “explain the complexities”, while remaining at the same time “for everyone”, Fisherman added. They represent a “microcosm that takes up a macrocosm” capable of reflecting the real world, with all its relationships, situations, but also with all “the feelings that are relevant in the world“, continued the professor. In this parallel universe we then find the “contingency of the disease, which happens – he adds, but which turns out to be linked to external factors, to important themes that cross society. And this is precisely the great characteristic of medical dramas: the ability to absorb social discourses and rework them”. So it’s not just about “entertainment, but also a little more”, concludes Pescatore.
Tear along the edges
“And so we went slowly because we thought that life worked like this, that it was enough to tear along the edges, little by little, follow the dotted line of what we were destined for and everything would take the shape it was supposed to have. Because we were seventeen and all the time in the world“, this is how Zerocalcare speaks in the Netflix animation series, written and directed by the author of the same name and produced by Movimenti production, in collaboration with Bao Publishing.
“Tearing Along the Edges is a journey that immerses us in the complicated universe of adolescence and that sensitively shows us the challenges of growth, the complexity of loss and mourning. In an era in which the image of adolescents is often distorted , Zerocalcare presents us with an authentic and touching vision of this phase of life, with its emotions and uncertainties. As a psychotherapist I see in this story a fundamental, precious tool that can encourage dialogues and reduce the distance between adults and adolescents” , commented Lavenia who presented the award.
Ilaria Castiglionimanager for the Italian series of Netflixwho received the award representing the producers and Michele Rech (Zerocalcare) stated that “the ‘existential hindrances’, therefore fragility, sensitivity and even a certain vulnerability, are indispensable characteristics that make us human, make us unique, and allow us to relate to others”, become , therefore “antidote to loneliness” and for this reason it is important to talk about it and make everyone more aware of it.
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Everything asks for salvation
“I hug my pillow and stay like that, clutching at nothing, with a monstrous desire to get away from myself, forget about everything”, so he writes Daniele Mencarelli in the book ‘Everything asks for salvation’, published by Mondadori, from which the series of the same name produced by Picomedia was based. Awarded by Manfellotto on behalf of the entire jury, the recognition was awarded for the author’s ability to “have opened a tear in the veil that hides from the eyes of society the world of those who experience mental distress and do so within a healthcare facility. A world where discomfort, pain, conflict, but also sweetness, love, gratitude live. As if beyond the truth, in the world of the so-called normal. And for having done so in a frank manner, which questions us about the times we have turned our heads the other way, not wanting to look not only at the discomfort of others, but also our own”.
“The places of pain are places where we can rediscover some feelings that man, in that convention that calls normality, risks losing – replied Mencarelli – getting us closer to that nature that we pretend to have omitted, to have hidden”. And he concludes that even those who suffer from the smallest and ‘simple’ disorder, “is a man who questions himself about existence” and we must “return to making this question human, return to making it legitimate. Our society has made the questions of ‘always and this is the greatest risk, because a human being who cannot ask about himself is a human being who experiences isolation from others.”