An animated film about migration: it's The Custody, which will premiere on Rai3

It will air its world premiere on Rai3 on Friday, December 31 at 3:20 p.m., and then go on Rai Gulp on January 1 at 4:05 p.m. and 8:40 p.m. (and will be available on Rai Play), the film La Custodia, directed by animation master Maurizio Forestieri. The animated film recounts the journey of a boy who flees a country at war: a fantasy story, told in the language of animation, combining the poetry of storytelling with the magic of images and music. The protagonist is the very young Fadi who, in an indefinite place and time, escapes from a country at war, taking with him a violin case from which he never separates. In the company of a group of other travelers, Fadi crosses deserts and seas in a journey full of obstacles. Along the way he meets the mysterious Naila and a group of other boys who do not make his life easy. At the end of the journey, having arrived after a shipwreck at the much-coveted land of Spes, the travelers face an impassable wall. But even walls are not invincible.

The story told by Maurizio Forestieri and accompanied by Roberto Frattini’s original music, is a fairy tale for all ages with a bitter flavor: In fact, La Custodia is meant to be a symbolic tale of current and past history of so many peoples who undertake a journey in search of more hospitable places, as well as a story of parents who want to guarantee their children a better future. A future that is the right of every child and the duty of every civilization.

The film, produced by Rome-based Graphilm in collaboration with Rai Ragazzi, won Best Animated Film at the NYIFA - New York International Film Awards, Best Director at the New York Animation Film Awards, and is nominated for the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2022 and the Providence Children’s Film Festival 2022.

“Describing a journey,” stresses director Maurizio Forestieri, "is one of the most usual things that can happen. Visiting new places, discovering local customs, immortalizing oneself with a selfie in front of a monument, taking a few mementos, writing a diary. But this trip is different: very dangerous, with no assigned first or second class seat, no arrival time, and above all, the certainty of the destination. A very expensive journey for the families who get into debt to criminal organizations, to snatch their loved ones from wars and famines, claiming the right that every human being has of their own future. The transfiguration of The Custody represents a journey to a planet, perhaps the earth or perhaps not, paradoxically suspended between a past of great civilizations and monumental vestiges and a desolating and desertified dystopian future, but where it dramatically speaks of a present and that is those populations forced to flee their lands and thousands of minors torn from their affections to be abandoned to their fate. It is a fairy tale without a happy ending except that of hope, where Fadi’s Custody is certainly not Aladdin’s lamp with its wish-fulfilling genie, but that magical treasure chest that holds his soul, his art and his desire to become a violinist. A music, a harmony where you do not need the instrument to play it since it comes from within and like a wavelength of consciousness, this can be picked up by those who tune in and are willing to listen to its sound."

An internationally renowned animation director, Maurizio Forestieri has received two nominations at the Cannes Film Festival and a nomination for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. His works have been presented at MOMA in New York. Maurizio Forestieri has won awards at major international film and animation festivals. In 1988 he founded the company Graphilm, and established himself on the market in the dual capacity of creative and producer. Over the years he collaborates with almost the entire panorama of Italian authors such as Guido Manuli, Pierluigi De Mas, Giuseppe Laganà, Emanuele Luzzati, Bruno Bozzetto and others. He makes short films that will have international distribution. In 2003 he directed his first feature film, Totò Sapore, produced and distributed by Medusa. In 2012 he curated the animation direction for Cinderella - Una favola in diretta (Rai Fiction-Rada Film). In 2015 he directs the animated series Bu Buum (26 episodes, Graphilm-Rai Fiction) of which he is also the author, broadcast on Rai Gulp and distributed worldwide by Beta Film (Germany). He directs the documentary series Waterloo (5 episodes, EM PublishersRai Fiction). In 2020 he makes the short film Hanukkah - The Festival of Lights (Graphilm-Rai Ragazzi). In 2021 he completes the making of the preschool animated series Nefertina on the Nile (Graphilm, Rai Ragazzi, Waooh!, Cyber Group Studios) and makes the TV Special La Custodia. He is currently working on a new children’s TV series project.

The film is produced by Roman animation studio Graphilm Entertainment in collaboration with Rai Ragazzi, with the support of MiC - Italian Ministry of Culture, under the patronage of UNICEF and UNAR - National Anti-Racial Discrimination Office. The animation was produced by Graphilm Entertainment, in collaboration with Sicilian studio Studio Rain and Tunisian studio CGS 3D.

Pictured is a still from La Custodia.

An animated film about migration: it's The Custody, which will premiere on Rai3

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