From the seagull to Garibaldi: the history of Lanterna Magica

 

One the most known and appreciated animated movies of the end of last century is La gabbianella e il gatto (Lucky and Zorba), part of the collective memory of many Italian children in the 90s. Here we are going to find out about the interesting history of its animation studio, Lanterna Magica.

Created in 1983 by Maria Fares and Roberto Baratta, it was initially a creative lab sponsored by the Department of Education of the Municipality of Turin. In its first years of activity, on one hand it created cartoons with kids of primary and secondary schools, and on the other it realized short films and commercials with social themes (alcohol, smoking, pollution and others) for companies and institutions. Furthermore, the lab operated as a center for audiovisual culture, with literacy courses and specialization in audiovisual techniques for teachers, cultural operators and citizens.

In 1992, the studio decided to try out the production of its first animated feature, La freccia azzurra, based on the Gianni Rodari's 1964 short story of the same name. The film was directed by the artist Enzo D'Alò, a very important character for the history of the studio, and it featured a team of  famous voice actors such as Dario Fo and Lella Costa. The production was complex and a real investment, which paid off very well when it came out in theaters in 1996, with great success from critics and audience, leading to winning four different film awards: David di Donatello 1997 (best musician to Paolo Conte), Nastro d'Argento 1997 (best soundtrack to Paolo Conte), special award for an animated movie produced in Italy, Bellaria Film Festival 1997 (Premio Casa Rossa for best technical contribution) and a nomination to the International Animated Film Festival of Annecy 1997 as best feature film. During the production of La freccia azzurra, the studio worked as well on tv productions such as the feature Kamillo Kromo (1993) and the series La Pimpa – Le nuove avvventure (1997).

 

Trailer of the restored version (2020) of La Freccia Azzurra

In 1998, La gabbianella e il gatto came out in cinemas with incredible success, managing to be the most popular and successful film by Enzo D'Alò and in general the Italian animated feature with the biggest commercial success. Based on the 1996 novel "The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly" by the Chilean author Luis Sepúlveda, the film was proof of the incredible potential of the studio, that seemed to have a future of expansion. Among other tv productions, in 1999 Lanterna Magica worked on the opening titles of the kids show Melevisione. 

In that year, Maria Fares and Enzo D'Alò (she was chief executive, he was movie director), invested heavily in projects, tools and workers in order to expand the company. They had the goal of producing a feature film every year and a tv series every two years, respecting the commissions. The ongoing productions were the feature films Momo, Tempesta, Aida (degli alberi), the tv series Sopra i tetti di Venezia and the pilot for Pinocchio. At the end of the year, Lanterna Magica was approaching a deal with important companies in the field that would have let it gain more creative autonomy and the management of all the rights of its productions and collateral products.

The new millennium began with a complicated year. Thanks to a union statement from that time, we have a timeline of the events that led to the bankruptcy of Lanterna Magica as a company. This is not the end of the studio, but it is a very important transitional moment that defined its future. In January 2000, Enzo D’Alò began realizing something about what he wanted to do with his art. He insisted that the company had to stay exclusively an executive producer. The statement claims as such:

Clearly D'Alò doesn't manage to realize a synthesis between being a director and a producer at the same time and he's afraid of not being able to "control" a rapidly growing company anymore.

These thoughts from D'Alò resulted in lost opportunities and delays in the production of Momo and Pinocchio. Similar problems manifested with Sopra i tetti di Venezia, but thanks to the willingness of the other directors of the series, the studio maintained the contract with France Animation until the month of August, when the French company, worried about the repercussions of the internal conflict between D'Alò and the Lanterna Magica workers, rescinded the contract. After months of attempts at mediation by the workers and constant refusals of negotiation by D'Alò, on June 20th 2000 he assumed the bankruptcy of the company with a testimony at the Bankruptcy Court of Turin. This means that he declared his company could fail very soon, despite the efforts of Maria Fares. Due to the official pre-bankruptcy situation, the company could not pay its debts with the firms that collaborated with it for Momo and Sopra i tetti di Venezia, leading to the already mentioned conclusion of the contract by France Animation.

Finally, Lantena Magica failed around the end of the year, however the film production company Medusa acquired it in December 2000, allowing the conclusion of the ongoing projects and hiring back almost all the workers. Two years later, Maria Fares managed to buy back the company from Medusa, which only kept the role of film distributor. This way, Lanterna Magica continued producing films and tv series for many years.

 

Commercial for the Aida degli alberi VHS and its merchandise by Kinder & Ferrero (2003) 

Aida degli alberi came out in theatres in 2001. The work, inspired by Giuseppe Verdi's lyrical opera, was less successful than the seagull film, but still very appreciated. In the same year, Sopra i tetti di Venezia completed its production and debuted on European television among with Rai 2 in 2003, while the feature film Totò Sapore e la magica storia della pizza came out in theatres. Aida and Totò had merchandise in collaboration with Kinder & Ferrero. The golden age of the Kinder & Ferrero toys is a phenomenon that deserves its own article.

 

Trailer of Totò Sapore (2003) 

In the following years they worked on tv series such as Gino il pollo (2006) and Matt & Manson (2008, French co-production). In 2009, a new co-production with France resulted in the film Nat e il segreto di Eleonora. The following year, Maria Fares decided to close the historic headquarters of Lanterna Magica in Via Cesare Battisti 15 in Turin, with the plan of periodically renting spaces that were more convenient to the time and needs of the productions. The transfer led to the writing of the inventory of the archive of production documentation. The inventory is available online on the website of the State Archive of Turin. In 2011 Lanterna Magica produced the feature film for tv dedicated to the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy: Il generale e i fratellini d'Italia.

Nowadays, Lanterna Magica keeps working in collaboration with other companies. The studio's website was available until fall of 2024, it's possible that they changed the domain or simply they did not bother keeping it up. In any case, the website has been archived in the Wayback Machine and can be still be visited.

The historical magic of Chiantishire [indie comic]

Exploring other Italian original comics, I found a very interesting historical and fantasy comic set in the Etruscan period. Chiantishire, written and drawn by Marika Michelazzi, of the Storie Brute collective, accounts for six chapters colored in greyscale with particular inclusions of one or two colors depending on the specific scene: red is the most used color. The collective's website presents the story as such:

The journey of a noble Etruscan woman who, by entering Dionysus' thiasus, becomes immortal going through forgotten eras and people.

Valtha and her husband

The woman in question is Valtha who, after a very impactful event, decides to follow her friend Kona and join the god Dionysus' thiasus, turns into a maenad. She saw the birth and fall of the Etruscan people, the many changes of society, a total of 27 centuries of humanity. After a period of silence from Dionysus during which the maenads lived independently in the human world, Valtha receives an invitation from Dionysus' brother, the satyr Siro, in order to rebuild the thiasus and discover the location of the disappeared god. Initially she was not interested at all, but if something happened to Dionysus, all maenads would disappear with him! Valtha decides to reunite with her dear friends to save them and not really for Dionysus. The narrative jumps between present and past, giving the reader the context of Valtha's origins and her relationship of deep friendship with her companions. At the same time, it can be interpreted as Valtha remembering important moments while they are running away from the harpies.

Since the story so far is relatively short (but not yet concluded), I will not explain the details of the plot, that deserves to be read with surprise. However, I could talk about the use of the different pantheons of deities in Chiantishire. In this world, it is implied that all the deities of different religions exist at the same time and have some kind of jurisdiction over the territories of their worshippers. Dionysus, his spouse Ariadne of Knossos and his maenads distanced themselves from the gods of Olympus and settled in Etruria, guests of Selvans, the lord of the forest. One of the deities of Valtha's religion appears too, as well as the Egyptian god Seth.

Dionysus and Ariadne

The relationship between the gods presents a web of somewhat human comunication and behaviours: they are powerful, yes, but they have virtues and flaws, together with family conflicts. Dionysus escaped from Olympus and found refuge in Etruscan lands, but his Greek family keeps looking for him, and the consequences of this hunt are visibile in modern times. Valtha and her companions are chased by creatures and emissaries from Olympus, because they don't know either where is Dionysus and putting his maenads in danger will send a message. Valtha's current mission will consist in reforming the thiasus, join Ariadna once again and find Dionysus before someone else does, for his salvation and especially that of the maenads.

In the website of Storie Brute, the author wrote some deep dive articles about the historical context of Chiantishire's characters, here is what she says about the deities:

In Chiantishire, deities have very particular features: they have different forms, showy, their physicality feels the effects of the impact they have on the mortal population... But they can be killed, destroyed, die or not-live. Nothing is eternal, they have to adapt to the demands of time and space, as it will be seen slowly while the story proceeds.

On the other hand, the consequences of a mortal turned immortal are explored with Valtha's situation: what initially represented a relief after all the suffering of her past, later became a prison, where time passes in a different way and suddenly her son is already an adult. Furthermore, she cannot interact with him and she can only observe from afar. This is one of the reasons of her resentment towards Dionysus. Now Valtha only wants to protect her maenad family, despite her sour opinion on the deity.

Marika Michelazzi studied ancient history, representing in the most accurate way possible traditions, locations and cultural differences of the characters. The deep dive articles are an ideal complementary reading to enjoy more the details and read once more the story as well. Chiantishire is a charming historical fantasy work that is not only very thrilling, but also educational and it inspires readers to discover more about ancient history, thanks to the evident passion of the author. This work is available completely for free in the collective's website, and the printed version can be bought in the shop section of the same website.

Title: Chiantishire
Publisher: self-produced by the collective Storie Brute
Author (script, art and colors): Marika Michelazzi
Lettering: Marika Michelazzi
Digital platform: the website of the collective Storie Brute and the Jundo platform, all six chapters 
Printed version: three volumes in A4 size, page number varies depending on the volume
Colors: greyscale over grey paper, with red and light blue accents

The delicious continuation of Squisito! [Jundo Original]

Cover of Squisito! n.2

Three years ago, I made a positive review of the volume of the Italian comic "Squisito!", written and drawn by Gianmarco Bonelli, published by Jundo Comics on its platform and later on paper. Since in the meantime they released the second volume, which I liked very much at the time of publication, I decided to complete my thoughts on the story as it is today. Currently, "Squisito!" has twelve chapters (that is the two volumes together) and there are no updates on the story since 2023. Very likely the story is on hiatus while the author is working on other projects.

Lucius in the cover
illustration for chapter 7

Picking up where we left off, Pia & Leo are looking for a bottle of 1995 Montemezzo wine in the reigning city of Mezzavia. The wine is very expensive, therefore they accept the mission of collecting the super delicate imprinting eggs. After many attempts, Leo finally obtained a new friend (Gargantua, who was born from one of the eggs) and the necessary egg to complete the task. Meanwhile,  Pia had to got to prison as a guarantee because they could not pay the tax to stay in the kingdom. There Pia meets Lucius, a wudelen wolf (species of anthropomorphic wolf) who becomes her friend and combat teacher. Leo ends up in prison as well after cooking the egg for the queen. When the guards try to take Leo and bring him who knows where, a fight starts between them and Pia & Lucius. Pia ends up getting seriously injured, and Lucius asks Leo to go gahter the vigormoss, a powerful medicinal herb.

In this part we have a parallel development for Pia and Leo: she sees her parents during the feverish delirium of the wound, while Leo has to face the giant bat in the darkness of the moss cave. What results of this is that Pia is afraid of not being able to reach her parents, metaphorically and literally, and Leo detests himself because every time he is in danger all he can do is fleeing. These recurring moments of vulnerability make the characters more human, because overcoming insecurities and growing up is a gradual process with multiple important events.

Leo managed to give the vigormoss to Pia, who heals immediately. The queen arrives at the fight scene and finally explains why she called for Leo, she has a mission for him: go to the neighbouring kingdom of Findivia, and deliver a porition of the same imprinting egg dish and a letter to the king. In a great show of negotiation, Leo manages to earn freedom for Pia, Lucius and the friar who helped him find the cave of vigormoss.

Lucius, Leo, Gargantua and Sisto leave the prison

In Findivia, Pia and Leo discover that the king does not accept visitors, but the winners of the annual hunt of the Prometeus  chicken can talk to him! This, paired with the fact that the chicken's liver is one of the ingredients they're looking for, leads the two of them to join the competition. Teaming up with the extravangant gatherer friend of bees, Honey, they enter the chaos of the hunt. Following Honey's strategy, they manage to retrieve the chicken, but only after facing the dangerous team of Tristano the cannibal, who is here for the recipe book and the map. In their individual fights, Pia and Leo complete the process that started earlier in prison and with new resolve they develop their characters. Pia faces her newfound fear of knife wounds, regaining her fighting spirit, and Leo uses his habit of escaping by instead getting close enough to the enemy and damage him.

The three win the chicken, Honey defends the other two from Tristano until the end of the hunt, and finally Leo can cook for the king. The queen's letter, intended for all her siblings, is an offer of peace and reconciliation between them, because the egg brought up ancient memories of happier family times that she wants to recover. At the same time, Leo finally prepares the appetizer and Pia declares with tears in her eyes that it is like a real family lunch.

As I mentioned in the article about the first volume, the One Piece influences are evident, especially in the designs of the guards and the participants in the chicken hunt. This is not a negative observation, rather some proof of how works that we admire can manifest themselves in original projects. The drawing style keeps being very ideal for the fun moments and the action scenes, you can also notice improvements in the more confident strokes and more impactful actions! That said, the environments are a lovely example of how to create fictional locations that are still clearly Italian. Findivia is personally my favorite with all the stairs and slopes, a good representation of a hill or mountain village.

Pia uses the techniques learned with Lucius

Personally I wanted to continue reading the adventures of Pia and Leo, but at the same time if the project ended here, the scene of the family lunch would be a wonderful final image to remember them like this, happy and ready for new experiences.

Title: Squisito! Fantastici Sapori Tradizionali Italiani
Publisher: Jundo
Author (script, art and color): Gianmarco Bonelli
Editing: LVCE1807 Lettering: Gianmarco Bonelli
Supervision: Matteo Vesprini
Digital platform: www.jundo.it and the Jundo app (the first nine chapters are available for free)
Printed version: Tankobōn 16.5x12 volume, flexible cover with dust jacket, 232 pages
Colors: B/W with the first 5 pages in color in the printed version
ISBN code: 979-12-81537-088 

A game to discover Sardinia: The Secret Island - A Sardinian Journey

Internet searches can be full of surprises. Sometimes, looking for information on something, you stumble upon a completely different project. In this case the happy lucky strike made me discover a fantastic example of cultural appreciation through the videogame medium. “The Secret Island – A Sardinian Journey” is a delightful educational game (available both on Android and iOS) that guides the player in a route through different places in Sardinia, and introduces them to real artisanal entities and some figures from Sardinian folklore.

This game is part of the “point and click” genre, that is interacting with the environment by moving the cursor and clicking on the desired objects or characters. The simplicity of the commands serves perfectly the interface of a phone, but there are also many PC videogames that use this system. For instance, the classic investigation games such as Nancy Drew exploit this system to gather clues.

"The Secret Island - A Sardinian Journey" Trailer

The games was developed by the Game Maker Academy of Cagliari, that collaborated on the Memory Wefts project through the school’s major representative, teacher, director of studies, technologic tutor and game designer Andrea Assorgia. He took care of the script together with Lara Melis and Ismaele Marongiu and followed the project from the beginning. The environment design is by Manuela Galletta (painting) and Noemi Lepori with the assistance of Martina Pani, Andrea Serra and Edoardo Sori (line art); character designs and animations are by Stefano Puddu. The game’s soundtrack was composed by Sardinian musician Mebitek, specialized in electronic music.

The protagonist of our story is Daniela, a young Sardinian woman, with a recent degree in archaeology, who after a long while is finally going to pay visit to her dear grandma Felicita. Daniela’s house serves the function of tutorial level: here are explained the commands to move, interact with objects and put them in or take them out of the inventory (our bag). The exposition of important details for the story is provided precisely thanks to the interaction with personal items such as the picture with her grandmother: this encourages the player to check the environment carefully before moving on to the following place.

After leaving home, Daniela reaches Mamoiada, the town where grandma Felicita lives. Here she meets Barbaricina, who leads her to her grandma’s house and offers to guide her through the town. Barbaricina is the first of several characters based on actual existing people: in real life she is a communicator with a blog dedicated to Mamoiada. Once inside the house, Daniela finds a letter from grandma Felicita, who congratulates her for her degree and tells her that a new journey to face without fear awaits for her. She warns her that she went out of town for an errand and that she will not come back before nighttime, so Daniela sits on her armchair and falls asleep. At this point a brief dream begins, in which she sees grandma Felicita from behind, focused on working at the loom, Daniela calls for her three times, getting closer each time, but the dream ends before she can reach her. Once awakened she realizes that her grandma is not back yet and decides to go look for her. Though before leaving the house she meets another character from the internet world: Insopportabile, represented as a fun insolent little bird because he runs a Twitter account. Ironically, Insopportabile now is the last little bird on the platform after the replacement of the famous mascot! After leaving the house, Daniela can go to the museum or the town’s fountain, and once explored these places the other locations will be gradually unlocked.

The Museum of Mediterranean Masks proposes to us the first of a series of quests or missions: inside Daniela first meets the Mamuthones, typical masks of the traditional Sardinian Carnival, who before letting her proceed further asked for some water. Right behind the corner there is a fountain to draw from, but only by using a canteen made with a pumpkin, as they would do in the past. Once the Mamuthones’ thirst is quenched, Daniela meets the Issohadores, the characters that traditionally keep the Mamuthones in line. The two are busy discussing over the date of a theatre play they want to watch (the show Istòs by Teatro Tragodia), and they can’t decided which one of them is right. Daniela offers to help them by checking the poster placed between the museum and her grandma’s house.

Each time Daniela interacts with someone, she obtains information about where her grandma could be at the moment: not everyone knows her, but some can give her directions on how to proceed. In the case of the museum masks they don’t know, but they direct Daniela towards Ottana to the mask of Sardinian Carnival who knows and sees everything: the Filonzana. This is the moment where we start to actually feel the mysterious and mythological atmosphere of the game: sitting and placidly spinning thread, the Filonzana welcomes Daniela and explains that her grandma got lost, and in order to find her she will have to go through a journey leading her to Cabras, Mogoro, Abbasanta and Paulilatino. She will also have to retrieve coloured yarn and two loom pieces: a beam, a rotating cylinder around which you wrap the fabric threads that form the warp, and the shuttle, that is the elongated and carved piece of wood that leads the weft thread through the warp. For now Daniela does not understand why she needs these pieces, but she goes anyway on a classic A.R.S.T. bus towards any town you choose on the map located in the inventory. From this point onwards there is not a preset sequence to follow, as all town are unlocked at the same time and you can decide in which order visit the locations all the times you want.

This type of game layout leaves the player with great freedom to explore the levels. In order to solve the puzzles of the different locations you will often need objects from other places: a classic game design device that rewards the player’s curiosity and encourages them to interact with everything. We will not go over all puzzles, to preserve the enjoyment of the experience, but here’s an example: in the Museum of Mediterranean Masks you can retrieve a beekeeper hat; it will seem an out of place object until you will find a bee hive in Cabras from which you can extract beeswax, which in turn will be needed elsewhere.

We will talk about the locations in the order I visited them while playing: Cabras, Abbasanta, Mogoro, Abbasanta again (archaeological area) and Paulilatino. The latter will be inevitably the final stage regardless of the path, because solving the puzzle in Paulilatino will unlock the real final phase of the game: the necropolis of Anghelu Ruju in Alghero. 

Head of a giant of
Mont'e Prama
(source: wikimedia)

In Cabras we meet a mullet fisherman that will provide us with the beam, hidden in an unexpected place. The fisherman is one of the few characters to not be based on a specific person. The real special guest of this lap can be found in the archaeological site of Tharros: among the empty tombs lays one of the giants of Mont’e Prama! This colossal statue was left partially unearthed, and it politely asks Daniela to change the numbers of the tombs to be dug out, so it will finally be the next in line. In exchange of this courtesy, the giant gifts her with its spear, which will be useful later.

In Abbasanta we can visit the nuraghe Losa and look at an empty recess. We will come back to this place at a later time, when the light will hit the recess in the right way. Moving on we meet the master of dye herbs Maurizio Savoldo, the person grandma usually goes to in order to get coloured yarn. Luckily he has some yarn ready to be dyed in the cauldron, but he lacks the three dye herbs necessary for the primary colors: Rubia peregrina (wild madder) for red, Istatis tinctoria (woad) for indigo from which derive blue and light blue, and Daphne gnidium (flax-leaved daphne) for the mustard colour from which derives yellow. Equipped with ampules to extract the pigment from the herbs, Daniela goes to Paulilatino to gather them. Aside from the herbs, this location is also home of the famous sacred well, but we will go back to it later once all the necessary items are gathered. Back to the cauldron, with a matching game between primary colors we objtain a purple ball of yarn, an orange one and a green one. Unfortunately Savoldo hasn’t seen grandma in quite some time, but Daniel can say she made some progress in her journey.

"Woman with plate
of offerings"
Bronze stautette
(source: nurnet.net)

In Mogoro, in the proximity of nuraghe Cuccurada, Daniela meets the archeo-experimental artisan Andrea Loddo. As the name says, he’s focused on experimenting fusion techniques to create bronze statuettes like in nuragic era. The technique in question is the lost-wax casting, but Andrea forgot the raw materials! There you go, now the wax retrieved earlier finally has its purpose, and Andrea created a “brand new antique sacred bronze statuette” that Daniela can keep for herself.

The bronze statuette, placed in the recess of nuraghe Losa in Abbasanta, becomes the character of Bronze Statuette Woman, who transforms Daniela’s juniper staff into the shuttle. Furthermore, she tells her that her grandma is “in our company”, highlighting once again the supernatural character of this event. Daniela has a fun conversation with the Bronze Woman, noticing a certain similarity with singer Claudia Aru and even singing a piece of her song.

Bronze Stauette Woman in nuraghe Losa

 

The real nuraghe Losa (source: nuraghelosa.net)

Lara Melis and Ismaele Marongiu, members of the Fainas Cultural Association, founders of the Memory Wefts project and writers of the game, explain how these realities have been involved in the project:

The project originated from our idea, of Lara and Ismaele as part of the Fainas Association, then it evolved into the collaboration with Teatro Tragodia, Effimero Meraviglioso, Ditta Luigi Spano and the participation to the Identity_Lab2 tender which provided indirect POR FESR European funds to whoever wanted to pitch projects for the internationalisation of Sardinian cultural endeavours. Later the working group was joined by the Game Maker Academy of Cagliari that developed with us the graphic adventure and helped us releasing it online. Through the long process of creation and development of the videogame we created a map of locations of cultural, touristic and identity-based interest to which we pitched the collaboration, so that the players could enjoy the playing experience and at the same time get to know Sardinia and create an actual touristic route. In fact, in each level of the game there is a “real” character, that is an artisan/tour operator/artist that you can contact to reserve a visit or an experience (i.e. Mamoiada’s hiking guide, Barbaricina). Also each time you finish a level additional info about the location visited in the videogame gets unlocked together with the relative contact information.

After getting good luck wishes from the Bronze Woman, Daniela finally goes to Paulilatino to deliver the items to the sacred well. The moonlight perfectly enters the well, reflecting on the water: above the surface appears a solemn figure dressed in green with a red cape and hat. This is the priestess, who appeared to test Daniela to see if she is ready to reach the final stage of her journey.

The priestess in the sacred well of Saint Cristina

The well of Saint Cristina in Paulilatino (source: pozzosantacristina.com)

"Offering priestess" Bronze
statuette (source: nurnet.net)

The priestess asks Daniela what do the beam, the shuttle and the yarn represent: if Daniela gives the most practical and shallow answer, she will get sent outside to reflect on it until she understands the symbolic value of these tools. In a wonderful metaphor, the beam represents the importance of bonds with our loved ones: the beam holds the threads of the warp, which are family and friends, and we weave our life around them. The shuttle with which we pass the thread represents the time that flows, while the yarn represents strength and the colour represents the joy, both essential to live. Every day we build the tapestry of our life with the support of our loved ones, trying to make it as pretty and as colourful as possible. Once proven that she understood this truth, the priestess acknowledges Daniela’s maturity and directs her toward the necropolis of Anghelu Ruju in Alghero, where her grandma is waiting for her.

Like the threads woven into the warp, all the little hints about grandma Felicita finally take a clear shape, making us foresee what we will find on the final stage. The necropolis is a very interesting place that proposes a final challenge: inside we find a labyrinth of rooms that need to be visited in a certain order, otherwise you will end up at the entrance and have to restart. I had to repeat the labyrinth myself enough times to need to note down on a notepad the right directions! Placing this kind of puzzle at this point of the game is a great idea, because not only it gives us a relatively complex final activity, but it enhances the anticipation for the meeting with grandma giving the player time to ponder on what awaits them.

Daniela gets lost in the necropolis of Anghelu Ruju

Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju (picture taken by Pierluigi Montalbano, source: sardegnaturismo.it)

Once she finally reached the centre of the necropolis, Daniela reunites with her grandma, who approaches her… floating and transparent. Yes, dear grandma Felicita is dead, but she’s serene about it: “Of course it can be, mòrghere totucantus depimus” (We all have to die). She was ill but did not want to worry her granddaughter, therefore she prepared this journey for Daniela so that she would be ready and take with her the final teachings that she could provide. The necropolis is in the middle between the land of the living and the land of the dead, that’s why they can meet. Now the grandma asks for a favour before leaving: to complete the loom with the tools that she collected during the journey, so that she can weave for eternity. Before leaving her, the grandma says that they can meet in dreams, and maybe this is one too. Daniela wakes up on the armchair in her grandma’s house and gets ready to go outside to look for her, “but this is another story and it has to be told another time”.

“The Secret Island – A Sardinian Journey” is a delightful meeting point between tradition and future: during her journey Daniela rediscovers the folklore of her land and reconnects with her origins by learning how the loom so loved by her grandma works. The videogame medium is an ideal tool to introduce myths and places of Sardinia to a wide audience, especially considering that the game includes the translation of dialogues into English as well!

This game, with its cute art style, its interesting story and the fantastic food for thought on live, is absolutely recommended for the experience it offers. What’s more, it introduces many artisan and archaeological realities that can spark curiosity in a wide audience. We can hope that this bond between tradition and modern entertainment can give us other works of this kind!

Ricominciamo! - ¡Empezamos otra vez! - We're back!

Buonsalve! Dopo quasi un anno di inattività ho riaperto i battenti! In questo momento non posso garantire una programmazione regolare, ma ho già in mente delle cose interessanti di cui parlare, tra cui ma non solo:

• l’artbook di Strappare Lungo i Bordi (Zerocalcare)
• la storia degli studi d’animazione italiani
• fumetti italiani su Jundo (incluso un sequel su Squisito!) e in altri luoghi belli
• cortometraggi e serie animate sul web

Inoltre, sto lentamente aggiungendo video che ho sottotitolato su amara, mantenendo la lista in tema con gli argomenti principali del blog. Il primo passo per adesso è pubblicare l’articolo su “The Secret Island – A Sardinian Jouney” in inglese e spagnolo, poi il resto arriverà col tempo.
Ci sentiamo presto!

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¡Hola! ¡Después de casi un año de inactividad estoy aquí otra vez! En este momento no puedo asegurar una programación regular, pero ya tengo en mente algunas cositas interesantes de que hablar, de las cuales ma no solamente:

• el artbook de Cortar por la Línea de Puntos (Zerocalcare)
• la historia de los estudios de animación italianos
• cómic italianos en Jundo (incluyendo una secuela sobre Squisito!) y en otros lugares bonitos
• cortometrajes y series animadas en el web

Además, estoy lentamente añadiendo vídeos que subtitulé en amara, manteniendo el listado en el tema con los asuntos principales del blog. El primer paso por ahora es públicar el artículo sobre “The Secret Island – A Sardinian Journey en inglés y español, luego lo demás llegará con el tiempo. ¡Nos vemos pronto!

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Hello! After almost a year of inactivity I’m here again! At this moment I can’t guarantee a regular schedule, but I already have in mind some interesting things to talk about, among which but not limited to:

• the artbook of Tear Along the Dotted Line (Zerocalcare)
• the history of Italian animation studios
• Italian comics on Jundo (including a sequel about Squisito!) and on other lovely places
• animated short films and series online

Furthermore, I am slowly adding videos that I subtitled on amara, keeping the list in theme with the main topics of the blog. The first step for now is publishing the article about “The Secret Island – A Sardinian Journey” in English and Spanish, then the rest will come with time. See you soon!

An Italian fantasy culinary adventure: Squisito! [Jundo Original]

[This is a translation of the Italian article posted on December 19th 2022]

Cover of Squisito! n.1

Publishing house Jundo successfully reaches another goal, bringing as an exclusive for the Lucca Comics and Games -which took place last November- the first printed copies of its original works, together with famous imported works from the Korean market such as Of Machines and Beasts and All of You. After the end of the event, the volumes became available on the website’s online shop and through the main retailers such as Amazon, MangaYo!, starshop.it, POPstore and the circuit of comic book stores and bookshops. Among these we find the first issue of an exquisite adventure comic that brings together the passion for cooking with fantasy setting and creatures.

One of the colored pages
from the first chapter

Squisito! Fantastici Sapori Tradizionali Italiani (Delicious! Fantastic Traditional Italian Flavors), work drawn and written by Gianmarco Bonelli, holds different inspirations and references: its artstyle, with its thin and detailed lineart and very expressive characters, especially in comedic scenes, reminds of manga works such as One Piece; the size of the volume is quite similar to that of the classic tankōbon as well. However, it still has the western way of reading because despite its influences, the author considers it an Italian comic and preferred keeping this direction. An example of work published by Jundo that uses the Japanese reading way instead is Shaman by Shinichi Hotaka and Arisu, created to all intents and purposes to be read like a manga.

This fun culinary comic is set in a version of Italy full of peculiar creatures and incredible, difficult to gather ingredients, which require a particular type of person to pick them. These expert adventurers and seekers of delicacies are called gatherers, the majority of which is reunited in the U.R.C.A. association. In this world that revolves around cooking, cooks and gatherers are important figures and some of them can become legends! It’s clear to Pia, young gatherer and admirer of the most famous duo of the lands of Ausonia: Artemio and Nausicaa, first class gatherer and cook who mysteriously disappeared ten years ago. Entrusted to the care of innkeeper Nerone, Pia earns a living in the village of Piumanera gathering ingredients with her comically big cleaver, still looking for a clue to find the two.

Pia faces the badalischio

During one of her errands on Nerone’s behalf she bumped into a poor stranger poisoned by the most dangerous creature of the area, the badalischio. Pia rescues the boy and gathers the ingredients for the antidote, personally facing the creature. Once healed, the boy presents himself as Leo Greco, a young cook who came to Piumanera exactly to look for Artemio and Nausicaa. Leo and Pia become friends right away, talking about their favorite feats among the thousands of new discovered species and the extraordinary recipes invented by their idols. To return the favor, Leo offers to cook the badalischio meat, showing he is an excellent cook. On the other hand, Pia is more than glad to leave him the burner because she is as good of a gatherer as much as a disastrous cook!

After a joyful dinner (with an adorable scene where Pia explains how cantucci are dunked in vinsanto), Nerone decides to present to Pia a recipe book. The girl doesn’t understand the reason until, in the back cover, Nausicaa's signature stands out, and Leo finds out very quickly that the recipes trace a clear itinerary covering the peninsula. Pia leaves the room in shock, followed by Leo. The girl looked for clues for years without success, and this for her is the confirmation that she is not the right person. Leo understands how she feels and manages to convince her to follow the itinerary together. With Nerone’s blessings, the two leave for an adventure.

Dante the adorable gallonero

In this first chapter the fantasy atmosphere is expressed really well, with a great variety of interesting creatures such as “colombetti”, adorable flying mushrooms, the “gallonero” whose blood fights against venoms, the tasty “star caper” and its huge plant, or the fascinating “imprinting egg”, that can be handled only by the person who picked it until the moment of cooking. One of the perks of the printed volume is the inclusion of a delightful bestiary with the creatures featured in the six chapters. Furthermore, by removing the dust jacket we find a fun surprise: the real cover of the volume is the same as the cover of Nausicaa’s recipe book! These are the small details that show the attention given to the presentation of the comic.

Nausicaa's recipe book

In this first volume we see the progress of the dynamic between Pia and Leo, whose contrasting personalities lead them to risk interrupting the journey at the first stage. Thanks to the sweet couple of shopkeepers who cultivate the star caper, the two manage to make up and establish a relationship of trust. She’s hotheaded and bold, he’s observant and stubborn, Pia and Leo represent well the so called street smarts and book smarts: she knows well the area and the ingredients thanks to her experience on field, while he is not used to travel despite his knowledge; not preparing well his route is exactly how he risked his life with the badalischio! However it’s thanks to these differences that the two are complementary, and this dynamic makes them an interesting protagonist duo. Furthermore, beyond the differences they have in common some insecurity about their own skills. At the first incident during the gathering of the star caper Pia initially wants to go back home, but the discussion with Leo pushes her to try again and succeed. At the second stage of the itinerary we understand why the cook took the matter to heart, when he also has difficulties in picking the imprinting egg: considering his parents’ words, <<After all you’re a cook, honey! Just one call and we’ll come and pick you up, you know?>>, Leo probably wants to demonstrate he can do it on his own, even though it’s hard. Thinking about what Pia would do, the boy finally manages to pick the egg, showing the positive influence they have on each other.

The sixth chapter begins to lay down the first elements of a plot that will develop in the following volumes, with the introduction of four generals chasing the two kids, because their itinerary could lead them to Panacea! An excellent conclusion for the volume that intrigues the reader leaving a question: what is Panacea? And what ties do Artemio and Nausicaa have to what could be a legendary ingredient? We will find out following this fantastic story seeking Italian flavors!

Title: Squisito! Fantastici Sapori Tradizionali Italiani
Publisher: Jundo
Author (script, art and colors): Gianmarco Bonelli
Editing: LVCE1807 Lettering: Gianmarco Bonelli
Supervision: Matteo Vesprini
Digital platform: www.jundo.it and the Jundo app (the first six chapters are available for free)
Printed version: Tankōbon volume 16,5x12, flexible cover with dust jacket, 232 pages
Colors: B/W with the first 12 pages in color in the printed version
ISBN code: 979-12-80408-65-5

Illustration that accompanies chapter 6
(in colors on the website but black and white in the volume)

"S'Ammutadori - We are not alone" by Flora's Room: complete short film analysis

After a long wait, the animated short film S’Ammutadori – We are not alone by Sardinian studio Flora’s Room was publicly released on YouTube! We talked about the short film and the bigger story it’s part of on several occasions. To summarize: S’Ammutadori – We are not alone is an animated adaptation of the chapter “Limes” from the novel L’ultimo amore di Las, in which Las and Anna face through the night their own worst nightmares under the influence of S’Ammutadori. Completed in 2021, the short film was selected in five film festivals:

• 20th Animae Caribe International Animation & Digital Media Festival (2021)
• 37th Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival (2021)
• 28th Sguardi Altrove Film Festival (2021)
• 11th Corto Dino Film Festival (2021)
• 7th Premio Fausto Rossano (2021)

Regarding the visual elements, the characters feature a simple drawing style that allows fluid movements and great expressiveness. Using the program ToonBoom Harmony, I believe the animators applied the “puppet rigging” technique to manipulate the characters, alternating it with hand drawn animation. This technique consists in creating a skeleton and connecting it to different parts of the character model. The skeleton, commonly called rig, can be applied to a tridimensional model or a drawing. The first big wave of puppet rigging animation happened during the late 2000s, due to the rise of the program Adobe Flash.

Example of puppet rig from the video "2020 Character Rigging
Demo Reel (ToonBoom Harmony)" by Eddy Predeira

However, a prototype of this technique was already being experimented during the 1970s in the studios of the famous company Hanna Barbera. The test with the Scanimate animation system reproduced a scene from a previous production of the Scooby-Doo series, however they decided to continue the production normally with hand drawn artwork on acetate sheets. Outside of this experiment, the Scanimate system was normally used for commercials, promotions or openings of tv programs between the late 1960s and the 1980s.

Scanimation system animation test (circa 1970s)

Since then, the technique evolved, allowing more versatility and efficiency in the animation work. ToonBoom Harmony is currently the most used program by professionals all around the world when it comes to 2D animation. In the hands of competent animators puppet rigging animation can be just as nice and dynamic as traditional animation, and this short film is proof of that. The movements of S’Ammutadori in particular show skill in the scene of his appearance. The inclusion of blurred movements (also called animation smear), a typical trick of traditional animation, makes the movement more natural and not look mechanical.

Componidori mask above Anna's bed

Meanwhile the environments, although stylized, are full of details that put them between reality and Sardinian folklore. For instance, let’s look at Anna’s room. Above her bed there is a mask of Componidori, main characters of the tradition of Sa Sartiglia, hanging together with sa Pippa ‘e Maiu, the double rod of violets used to bless people during the celebration. We talked more about this in a complete article last year. Furthermore, the floor has a pattern of hexagonal tiles typical of the first decades of the 1900s.

Anna's room

Las’ room has a floor of stone tiles and a fireplace in the corner, a layout that is not unusual in traditional Sardinian homes. There is a knight mask and a Sartiglia star above Las’ bed as well. The village the protagonists live in is a mix of real features of Sardinian villages and fantasy elements, such as the big trees full of colorful lights. The world of Las seems to be a more peaceful and balanced cohabitation between human constructions and nature, as it could be already seen in the concept art for the movie presented at Cartoon Springboard 2021.

S'Ammutadori in Las' room

One of the most interesting features of this short film is the fact that its narration is non-verbal: although there are no words, the events are shown in an intuitive enough way that tells us everything we need without a word. However, this doesn’t mean that it lacks sound: Chiara Floris’ soundtrack and the sound effects picked by Beatrice Mele (obtained thanks to the Arbus Sardinian Knives Museum, the "canto a tenore" singer Giuliano Sannai and the cave of Ispinigoli in Dorgali) play on the right emotional strings and represent well the atmosphere of nightmares.

Las comforts Anna

The figure of S’Ammutadori is used as a catalyst to put the characters in front of their biggest fears, originating from their childhood traumas. Anna witnessed her father’s murder, which seems to be a premeditated action. In her nightmare she relives this tragic event and attempts to assault S’Ammutadori, which limits himself to escape and leave her alone. The tears of her silent crying slowly create a river. Meanwhile, Las relives her experience of domestic violence by the hand of her drunk father. Exiting the memory, Las finds in the woods some clothes of her father, hidden in the greenery like a beast. This scene represents how this man lost any trace of humanity in the eyes of his daughter. Las finds on a boat the child version of herself, giving her back the teddy bear she lost and sleeping with her on the boat. She wakes up alone because she reunited with her child self, and the boat is moving along the river. Las reaches the beginning of the river and comforts Anna, ending the dream. After waking up from their nightmares, the girls meet for real, with Las under Anna’s window, concluding the short film.

Even though it’s part of a bigger story, this short film can be enjoyed on its own and it’s a very interesting visual and narrative experience, clearly the product of passion and skill of all the team of Flora’s Room. And after “S’Ammutadori – We are not alone”, what else? Well, I am pleased to announce that the presentation at Cartoon Springboard 2021 was a success! In fact, it won’t be a movie like initially planned, but a tv animated series in development with Spanish company Mago Production. The archive page of Cartoon Springboard 2021 presents The World of Las as follows:

"The World of Las" tells the story of a girl who wants to get rid of a bad memory that keeps her chained to the past, in order to finally be able to move on with her life. Las lives on a planet called "Land of the Real", where the soul is defined with the name of "Sacred Body" and is treated with the same criteria with which the body is medicated. Las would like to become an artisan of Golden Scars, but she's unable to fully carry out this passion because she's conditioned by childhood trauma, due to which she doesn't have the right psychological predisposition to practice that type of profession. To overcome this trauma, Las will set off on a journey where she will retrace past events and meet magical creatures that will help her find herself.

Currently, the page dedicated to The World of Las on the website of Flora’s Room presents three concept art illustrations, with a different art style from the one used in the short film, but just as stylized and charming as the first. While waiting for more news, let’s admire the wonderful illustrations of the future tv series. A new world inspired by Sardinian folklore will soon open to European viewers!