Disco Boy
Alexei looks like the guy you don’t want to run into at a nightclub. Until recently, he didn't really have the headspace for fun like that. To change his bad fortune, he made a dangerous trip from his native Belarus, through Poland, to Paris. In France, the old truth is quickly confirmed that for those like him, the shortest path to social advancement goes through the Foreign Legion. However, dangerous missions in distant corners of the globe begin to provoke quite rational ethical doubts as well as nightmares tormenting the subconscious. Debuting director Giacomo Abbruzzese, with the considerable help of Berlinale award-winning cinematographer Hélène Louvart, pays close attention to those dreams. As a result, Disco Boy hypnotizes the viewer with a surreal vision of a world in which aggression mixes with melancholy, and Edith Piaf'sfamed Non, je ne regrette rien (No, I regret nothing) rings completely different than we might expect.
awards
Berlin IFF 2023 – Silver Bear for Oustanding Artistic Contribution
Giacomo Abbruzzese
Giacomo Abbruzzese is an Italian director, screenwriter and photographer, who was born in Taranto, Italy in 1983 and has lived in France for many years. He completed his studies in communication science at the University of Siena as well as film studies at the University of Bologna. After two years as a photographer on the Israeli-Palestinian border, he also graduated from the prestigious French art school Le Fresnoy. Since 2010, he has been making short films screened at many festivals around the world. Disco Boy is his full-length debut.
Selected filmography
2010 Archipel (short)
2011 Fireworks (short)
2013 This Is the Way (short)
2014 Stella Maris (short)
2017 Fame (short, doc.)
2019 America (short, doc.)
2021 I santi / The Saints (short)