Beyond the Wall
“Beyond the Wall” is a project by Roberto Franzin, a short movie made by the young offenders of the Juvenile Institution in Treviso, in cooperation with the students from Ca’ Foscari and with the support of Ca’ Foscari cinema
The idea of Oltre il Muro (Beyond the wall) took shape from the accounts of the young offenders of the Juvenile Institution in Treviso, where I have been teaching literary subjects for about ten years. Their experiences were collected when I suggested the boys to work on an argumentative text, where they were asked to express their expectations, hopes and fears on when they would be free again, on when they would go beyond the wall. Among the hundred accounts that I managed to collect I chose those which I believed were the most representative to make this short documentary on their feelings and hopes.
The collaboration with Ca’ Foscari Cinema began two years ago, when I participated in the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival with another document on the Juvenile offenders: Inediti Legami (Inedited Ties), a film which was inspired from some works of art and where the boys were given the opportunity to give life to the different “pictures” through the theatre-dance experience. Beyond the Wall, instead, allows them to express themselves on the basis of their impressions, thus becoming a short document on the aspects which strongly characterize their experiences. In both films there is the wish to find an alternative way of teaching, a stimulating way to make them express their motivations and build up their self-esteem, key ingredients in each recovery route, but not only. In both shorts we managed to overcome the difficulties of making people from different parts of the world work together, achieving the goal of opening a true and real window on the outside world.
Prof. Roberto Franzin
«I went through that door with the heart in my mouth and my eyes full of tears. I went through that door without looking back, without seeing. I went through that door carrying with me someone else’s hopes, fears, dreams and sorrows. And now, in my tiny room, hurrying and worrying about everyday life, I look back to those guys and I finally realize that I went through that doorwith the wish to return. »
Luisa Seguin, Ca’ Foscari University
