A group of Italians combs the villages of north Mozambique in search of five gifted people who dream about being actors. The reality met by the team of Italians is surprising: illiteracy and the scarce knowledge of Portuguese is as widespread as theatre is alive, and a reason for aggregation. There are many aspiring actors, and those who are selected will leave the national boundaries, go to Italy to learn acting techniques and write a text with the Italian director Jacopo Fo. The team of Italians, supported by the experience of the Mozambican actor Felix Mambucho, selects Cuba’s comedy, Arlete’s presence, Kedo’s voice, Safina’s sensuality, Ana Bela’s smile and Agostinho’s spontaneity.
At the Libera Università di Alcatraz in the Umbrian hills, the actors begin the project mission together with Jacopo Fo and other theatre maestros: to write a performance that is to be presented in the villages of Mozambique with the aim of teaching the local populations how to use the free health service and getting them to trust it.
The actors will learn a method that compels them to face themselves and their dreams. In parallel, the Italians will have to trust in a different approach to life in the hope of ending the project and creating the theatre tour.
This is Wiwanana: a journey between Italy and Mozambique, a story about the theatre as an instrument of emancipation and dialogue between different cultures.

WIWANANA speaks of Il teatro fa bene (The Theatre is good for you), which is a cosmopolitan project: each participant contributed with their own culture and vision of the world, creating new synergies and contact points between cultures that are apparently wide apart, favouring in this way creatively written theatre text. To do this, all the participants listened and opened up reciprocally, creating communication that was not just an intellectual tool but also a form of human exchange.
I saw a theatre performance being created before my eyes, written by an important representative of Italian comedy, Jacopo Fo, together with a group of amateur actors from North Mozambique who would never have believed they would go to Italy and find themselves coming to grips with a high level of theatrical training and the promise of returning home with a performance to be shown on stage. They would take home the tools needed to continue doing theatre and transmit those same tools to the new generations. Through a theatrical experience, this film tells about the unlimited ability of human beings to create when they open themselves to life.
The relationship that the whole work group managed to build from reciprocal respect, in-depth listening and willingness to leave behind any prejudice, should become a model for continual exchanges between the different cultures that exist today. This film tells about good relationship practices. What happens when, in just a short time, reality takes over dreams and the impossible becomes possible? This question alone was enough to show me how important it was to make this film.

A FILM BY IACOPO PATIERNO

STARRING:
SAFINA ANSSUMANE ALI AKA MISS ZAINA
ANA BELA EMILIA JORGE
PAOLO BEVILACQUA
ARLETE GUILHERMINA VINCENTE BOMBE
FELIX BRUNO LUIS CARLOS AKA MAMBUCHO
SIMONE CANOVA
JACOPO FO
ADELINO GERALDO AKA MR. KEDO
ADELINO GONÇALVES AKA CUBA
AGOSTINHO MAICO CHIPULA
BRUNO PATIERNO
MARIO PIROVANO

AND:
ASSANE ABDALA
SAIDE BACAR
STEFANO BERTEA
JOHARA BONCIO
FATIMA BONEFACIO
GIULIO BORGNOLO
STEFANO CIANCA
OLIVIERO COLIZZI
ELEONORA DALBOSCO
TIZIANA FRETI
ZURA MOMADE
MUSSA SALEMANE
ANTONIO SAIDE
SUNNA SALIMO
ARMANDO TONDO
FILIPPO UBERTI

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: JACOPO FO, BRUNO PATIERNO

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: PAOLO NEGRO
SOUND: DANIELE SOSIO

EDITING: IACOPO PATIERNO, SIMONE MANGANELLO, WITH THE FRIENDLY CONTRIBUTION OF JOHAN SÖDERBERG

SCRIPT CONSULTANT: FEDERICA SOZZI
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: FILIPPO M. CEREDI

MUSIC: ALESSIO BALLERINI
SOUND
MIX: DANIELE CUTRUFO
SOUND DESIGN: ALESSIO BALLERINI, DANIELE CUTRUFO

CAMERA OPERATOR: PAOLO NEGRO, IACOPO PATIERNO
COLOR GRADING: GIORGIA MEACCI
ART DIRECTOR: WET STUDIO

FESTIVAL AND DISTRIBUTION CONSULTANT: CRISTINA RAJOLA
FESTIVAL AND DISTRIBUTION ASSISTANT: MARA VENEZIANO

THE FILM “WIWANANA” IS BASED ON THE STORY OF THE “THEATRE SO GOOD” PROJECT WWW.ILTEATROFABENE.IT , PRODUCED AND REALIZED WITH THE IDEAS ORGANIZATION AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF ENI FOUNDATION
IN COLLABORATION WITH: MEDICI CON L’AFRICA CUAMM

THIS FILM HAS ACHIEVED THE CERTIFICATION OF CULTURAL RELEVANCE OF THE MINISTRY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE AND ACTIVITIES AND TOURISM