Filmmakers Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo Create Buzz in Berlin

One of the most talked about films at the 68^th Berlin International Film Festival is Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo’s La terra dell’abbastanza (Boys Cry).

According the Berlinale, the story centers on best friends, Mirko and Manolo who live in the suburbs of Rome with their single parents. Surrounded by poverty, the boys spend their days at high school and their nights delivering pizzas. One night, disaster strikes when a man steps in front of their car near the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. The boys flee the scene. Manolo’s father learns that the police believe the dead man to have been involved in a feud between two rival mafia groups. It transpires that the Mafiosi, several of whom went to school with Manolo’s father, had already singled out the deceased as a marked man. On account of this Manolo is given an introduction to the mob. He receives his first assignment – as a test. Mirko insists on accompanying him. Before long, Mirko in particular finds himself sucked into a maelstrom of violence, drugs and prostitution. Bit by bit, he becomes estranged from his girlfriend, his mother and even from Manolo, until one final, desperate attempt to break away.

Directing and writing duo Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo were born in Rome in 1988. They spent their childhood on the outskirts of Rome painting, writing poems and taking photographs. Without any formal film-making training, they have created video clips, films for television and the cinema as well as a theatre play. Their debut as feature film directors La terra dell’abbastanza (Boys Cry) is screening in the Panorama section.

The Berlin International Film Festival runs through February 25. Click here to visit the festival’s website.

- Jeannine Guilyard

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