Principal reopens school in June, kids make films

(by Gioia Giudici) (ANSA) - MILAN, 02 AUGUST - They did months of didactic training, without knowing when and how they would return to school, if they could have greeted their classmates before the high school, and they never protested, but that short film, which the 'cinema project' closed, followed throughout the year, they really wanted to shoot and the principal, in the end, accepted their request. So, when politics still debated about going back to class in September, the first days of June, leporte of the Maffucci middle school, northern suburbs of Milan, reopened for the filming of 'The renewed comedy', films written and interpreted by the third D and directed by Fabio Martina, soul of the project 'The boys of the Bovisa', funded by the Miure inspired by Ermanno Olmi, who attended the primary school in Viale Bodio, part of the area that, together with the medium Maffucci, was named after the director.
    "The boys - said the headmaster Laura Barbirato - were very content, the pressure came from them. They were not rash but aware that the limits were very strong and we had to protect everyone from possible risks then, since we were all in agreement, from parents to teachers , hoped it was the case to do it because in September it would have been more difficult with the dispersion of the boys in other schools. For 15 days I was apprehensive, but then this experience reassured me about the resumption of September, which I now had in a less anxious way ".
    "Going back to school was nice because things are over - adds Martina - we had already done the storyboard and the castingonline and we didn't want to leave everything suspended. Bringing home that one day was tiring, but it was the same guys who insisted. 10 classes are involved in the project, 3 shorts had already been shot before the pandemic, this had to be done in March, but then everything stopped. Of course, getting into school took courage. " "I did not ask because I was not sure that they would give them to me, I considered that there was the decision-making space linked to the autonomy of the school and I assumed all responsibility but - said Barbirato - I had teachers and parents on our side". Masks in the pre-preparatory stages, distances kept during the filming, the III D came out to shoot her little divine school comedy. "Boys were really happy to go back to school and they said 'can I go to my class for a moment?' because - emphasizes the principal - school is part of their lives, it is not just learning but meeting ". So, "if there is more responsibility to be assumed, I will do it willingly" says ladirigente, who is organizing the return to school, not groups, but studying entry and exit routes, asking the teachers to do a bit also as janitors, moving desks and eliminating closets. "We took September to restart the school part-time, then from October we hope to return to normal tracks" and then to officially name the school at Ermanno Olmi, as was the case in May. An "adventurous" re-start, such as filming in Phase 2, which also includes a film festival made by the boys for the boys and an undocufilm, 'Out of conduct', directed by Fabio Martina and shot in Viale Bodio, with protagonists - once again - boys.
   (HANDLE).