“Drug addict, lazy person, madman, prisoner, drunkard…” is the endless list of sentences that the city of Campobasso handed down to its most famous citizens. Often unclear adjectives were described Gaetano – the frog – Zarla Which became the subject of a story about the social marginalization of two young artists from Campobasso: Fausto Franchi and Anthony De Castro.

After days of controversy on and off social media, following the announcement of the screening of a trailer for the still unfinished documentary on the life of the frog (Friday, March 1, at 6pm at the headquarters of the Casa del Popolo di Campobasso association in Via Gioberti 20, on the shoulders of the railway ), the writers of the upcoming production take the floor.

“We live in hell but we live well It's a project that started in 2018. I, Fausto, Mr. Dr) and Anthony, with the shared idea of ​​making a documentary featuring Gaetano Zarla, driven by their shared passion for cinema and the intuition that Gaetano would be the perfect protagonist for the story. You are attracted to its uniqueness We (with a few weapons and a lot of desire) started working together. The relationship with our protagonist has changed a lot over the years and Before we could delve deeper into his intimate relationship, we took time to become friends“It is an essential element for the purposes of what we wanted to say.”

What is this movie about?

“The subject of the documentary has changed, just like the relationship with Gaetano, today we can define the film as A reflection of the cost of being yourself, A note on the relationship between society and the individual, and marginalization (in the eyes of the beholder) as a weapon of personal freedom. Gaetano, known to many as the Frog, is the leader of this thread, the Sharon of our story. We live in hell but we do well there It is a phrase that, in our opinion, contains the central idea of ​​the film.

He's a very divisive figure, but that didn't influence your choice to make a documentary about him, on the contrary.

“From the beginning we knew that it would be a challenge and that the project would divide opinions. It's always like that when you encounter something different, you can follow multiple paths: the path we chose is the path of reflection, which is the most difficult path, as there is almost no answer. But this experience “It gave us the ability to look at things without pretending to understand them. It all boils down to the journey, the journey, not the goal. There is no morality, there is no judgement. There is only the truth (whether interesting or not) of those who have made choices different from the norm.”

It seems to be understood that regarding the person being judged, I have refrained from expressing a personal opinion so that whoever watches the film can form his own idea, make a judgment and not base it on bias which is ultimately the opinion that mostly applies when talking about Gaetano Zarla . Let's face it: How many of those who turned up their noses at the idea of ​​making a movie about him can say they really knew him?

“Cinema and stories in general start from the idea of ​​conflict that is necessary for participation, and boycotting an idea because it goes against the trend or because it does not conform can only limit the curiosity and knowledge that reality cinema feeds on.”

“We Live in Hell But We Live Well” is an independent documentary, meaning it has not benefited from any public funding.

“Independent and, I might add, self-produced: we have combined the economic strength to sustain us to this day. Just a month ago we opened an online fundraiser to fund future expenses, mainly to support post-production and the journey we would like to take to bring Gaetano to Its origins are in England.

Casa del Popolo has opened its doors to show you the trailer. How will you spend your afternoon?

“There will be an introduction to the documentary and behind the scenes of the film.”

Will Gaetano be there?

“Who knows, this is unpredictable. He can come if he wants, but he decides when he wants.”

The cultural association “Il Cinema relativi” was founded in 2017 to support the independent production of two short films directed by Fausto Franchi, “Ruggine” and “Linfa Vitale”, filmed and produced in Molise.

His greatest commitment to date is an independent documentary starring Gaetano Zarla.

Fausto Franchi Born in Campobasso in 1992. He studied directing and screenwriting at the IFA in Pescara, where he directed his first academic short films and also participated in writing screenplays. Since 2017 he has directed commercials, music videos for different artists, short films including Ruggine (Napoli FF) and Linfa Vitale, and participated in some national festivals such as Visioni Italiane, Prato Film Festival, Short Out 2022 (Best National Short Film) and others.

Anthony de Castro Born in Campobasso in 1992, after high school he moved to Bologna to study directing and screenwriting at the National Film Academy, and in the meantime he enrolled in the DAMS film course at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy (UNIPO). During these years he worked on several short films and approached the world of tattooing, which would become his main profession. He enrolled in theater and film acting courses, which led him to work on some sets of music videos, TV series, and theater shows.