Thank you guys

Directed by Director's notes
  • Riccardo Milani
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Pressbook

Directed by
  • Riccardo Milani
Year
  • 2022
Length
  • 117 min.
Download

Pressbook

Year
  • 2022
Length
  • 117 min.
Cast
  • Antonio Albanese
  • Sonia Bergamasco
  • Giacomo Ferrara
  • Vinicio Marchioni
  • Fabrizio Bentivoglio
  • Nicola Rignanese
 
  • Andrea Lattanzi
  • Giorgio Montanini
  • Liliana Bottone
  • Bogdan Iordachioiu
Synopsis

Faced with a lack of job offers, Antonio, a passionate but often unemployed actor, accepts a job offered by an old friend and colleague, far more shrewd than him, as a teacher of a theater workshop inside a penitentiary institute. Initially hesitant, he discovers talent in the improbable company of inmates, and this rekindles his passion and desire to create theater, to the point of convincing the strict prison director to go beyond the prison walls and stage Samuel Beckett’s famous play “Waiting for Godot” on a real theater stage.

Day after day, the inmates surrender to Antonio’s resolve and let themselves go, discovering the liberating power of art and its ability to give purpose and hope beyond waiting. So, when the final green light arrives, a triumphant tour begins.

Director's notes
  • The story of "Grazie ragazzi" (Thank You Guys) is a true story that happened in Sweden in the mid-1980s. Watching the French film that recounted it was an opportunity to adapt the story to our prisons with the filter of comedy, so as to reach a wider audience. It's a film that tells of theater's ability to offer an opportunity, to delve into the human soul of those who watch, but also, and in this case especially, of those who put themselves out there by acting on a stage. This is why, inevitably, "Grazie ragazzi" is also a film about the acting profession, which remains fascinating and mysterious to me. A film about how art can become an element of "freedom" and, above all, "possibility" in a prison.

    Five inmates, until then completely distant from culture and any form of expression, grappling with theater, unexpectedly adopt the existential questions posed by Samuel Beckett in "Waiting for Godot": "What are we doing here?". Thus seeking meaning in the waiting that characterizes their time spent in a cell. Questioning how to fill the emptiness of time spent in prison. About the meaning of their lives. About the meaning of our lives, and, ultimately, about the possibility of finding, deep within each of us, a spark that can make us change.

    The journey with Antonio Albanese continues (this is our fourth film together), an actor with a body and soul capable of traversing and narrating the human being with different tones and nuances, from laughter to drama, never more so than in this film.

    I thank everyone who worked, transforming themselves into non-actors who become true actors; from Vinicio Marchioni to Giacomo Ferrara, from Giorgio Montanini to Andrea Lattanzi, to Bogdan Iordachioiu and Gherard Koloneci. Different in every way from each other, but extraordinarily powerful in showing their human side unitedly. A note for Sonia Bergamasco and Fabrizio Bentivoglio, she a great theater and film actress with whom I am honored to work for a long time, capable of playing with genres, showcasing moments of profound humanity, and he one of those actors with whom, after the first time, you can't wait to work with again as soon as possible. I thank my entire crew, the producers Carlo Degli Esposti, Nicola Serra, Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa, Massimiliano Orfei and the entire Vision Distribution group. With all of them, we arrive at our natural place: the cinema screen.
Directed by
  • RICCARDO MILANI
Story and screenplay
  • MICHELE ASTORI
  • RICCARDO MILANI
  • based on the film Un Triomphe written by Emmanuel Courcol and Thierry de Carbonnières
  • Directed by Emmanuel Courcol and freely inspired by the true story of Jan Jonson
  • Produced by Agat Films & Cie Marc Bordure, Robert Guédiguian ©2020 Agat Films & Cie - Les Productions du Ch’timi
Produced by
  • CARLO DEGLI ESPOSTI
  • NICOLA SERRA
  • MARIO GIANANI
  • LORENZO GANGAROSSA
A production
  • PALOMAR
  • WILDSIDE a Fremantle Company
  • VISION DISTRIBUTION
In collaboration with
  • SKY
  • PRIME VIDEO
  • TEODORA FILM
Executive producers
  • FRANCESCO BELTRAME
Delegate Producer
  • MARCO CAMILLI
  • MARGHERITA CHITI
  • LUIGI PINTO
  • LUDOVICA RAPISARDA
Editing
  • PATRIZIA CERESANI
  • FRANCESCO RENDA
Scenography
  • MARTA MAFFUCCI
Director of photography
  • SAVERIO GUARNA
Costumes
  • ALBERTO MORETTI (asc)
Original score
  • ANDREA GUERRA
Assistant Director
  • VANESSA POZZI
Live sound
  • GAETANO CARITO (aits)
  • VINCENZO URSELLI (aits)
Makeup
  • MARTINA COSSU (antepac)
Hairdresser
  • TERESA DI SERIO
Casting
  • ANTONIO ROTUNDI
General organizer
  • MICHELA ROSSI
Director's notes
X

The story of "Grazie ragazzi" (Thank You Guys) is a true story that happened in Sweden in the mid-1980s. Watching the French film that recounted it was an opportunity to adapt the story to our prisons with the filter of comedy, so as to reach a wider audience. It's a film that tells of theater's ability to offer an opportunity, to delve into the human soul of those who watch, but also, and in this case especially, of those who put themselves out there by acting on a stage. This is why, inevitably, "Grazie ragazzi" is also a film about the acting profession, which remains fascinating and mysterious to me. A film about how art can become an element of "freedom" and, above all, "possibility" in a prison.

Five inmates, until then completely distant from culture and any form of expression, grappling with theater, unexpectedly adopt the existential questions posed by Samuel Beckett in "Waiting for Godot": "What are we doing here?". Thus seeking meaning in the waiting that characterizes their time spent in a cell. Questioning how to fill the emptiness of time spent in prison. About the meaning of their lives. About the meaning of our lives, and, ultimately, about the possibility of finding, deep within each of us, a spark that can make us change.

The journey with Antonio Albanese continues (this is our fourth film together), an actor with a body and soul capable of traversing and narrating the human being with different tones and nuances, from laughter to drama, never more so than in this film.

I thank everyone who worked, transforming themselves into non-actors who become true actors; from Vinicio Marchioni to Giacomo Ferrara, from Giorgio Montanini to Andrea Lattanzi, to Bogdan Iordachioiu and Gherard Koloneci. Different in every way from each other, but extraordinarily powerful in showing their human side unitedly. A note for Sonia Bergamasco and Fabrizio Bentivoglio, she a great theater and film actress with whom I am honored to work for a long time, capable of playing with genres, showcasing moments of profound humanity, and he one of those actors with whom, after the first time, you can't wait to work with again as soon as possible. I thank my entire crew, the producers Carlo Degli Esposti, Nicola Serra, Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa, Massimiliano Orfei and the entire Vision Distribution group. With all of them, we arrive at our natural place: the cinema screen.