Sergio Castellitto (Ansa)

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19 October 2021 `` I was passionate about having to work on solitudes: football is a team sport but many solitudes come together here.

We do not heal because we win, or because we participate, we heal if from that experience we become friends with someone.

Loneliness is the real discomfort of today.

It is our frailties that make us special, not our perfections ''.



Sergio Castellitto is the protagonist of 'Crazy For Football - Matti per il calcio', a TV movie directed by Volfango De Biasi who starts from the documentary made in 2016, then winner of the David di Donatello, which told the story of the Italian national football team in 5 composed of patients suffering from mental illness. A Rai Fiction - Mad Entertainment co-production, the film is hosted in the Riflessi section of the XVI Film Fest and will be broadcast in prime time by Rai Uno on November 1st.



'' For me it's a dream because at the time I didn't just shoot that documentary, it's a story that I followed firsthand. I contributed to founding the first Italian national team of psychiatric patients and I have been actively dedicating myself to this project for 15 years. This is my first TV movie, I wanted to make a popular national film that would enter people's homes. And working with friends, from the producers to the crew, in this climate of friendship, of sharing was really very important '', says De Biasi, who adds on the film: `` It wants to be a story not of denunciation, but of telling true human stories through the popular national sport par excellence, football ''.



The TV movie tells the figure of a great Italian doctor who dedicates his life to the social reintegration of his patients, who thanks to the game of football become the protagonists of a great dream: the first five-a-side football championship played by psychiatric patients.



Sergio Castellitto plays this visionary psychiatrist (Saverio Lulli in the film), together with him in the cast Max Tortora (he is the coach Zaccardi, former footballer now a widower and ludopathic), Antonia Truppo (Paola, Saverio's assistant), Angela Fontana ( Alba, Saverio's daughter), Massimo Ghini (prof. De Metris) and the large group of actors - from Lele Vannoli to Lorenzo Renzi, from Simone Baldasseroni to Alessio Ranucci - called to impersonate boys / men suffering from mental illness.



'' When I thought about making the film I asked myself if it was right to work with real patients, but then I realized that the times of the cinema did not allow it.

I did 700 auditions to choose 10 guys '', says the director, who did not have to work hard to convince Sergio Castellitto to join the project: `` The actor is a psychic disabled par excellence, a divided person - he says about the own profession -.

I had seen the documentary, then I was overwhelmed by Volfango's enthusiasm, as well as the fact that the script was really good.

Let's say that in the past I had already dealt with issues of this type, from 'Big watermelon' through 'In Treatment' ''.