U.S. Palmese

In Palmi, a small town in Calabria, Don Vincenzo, a brilliant and retired farmer, gets the crazy idea to revive the local football team. He organizes a bizarre fundraising campaign to recruit Etienne Morville, a Serie A player, with a difficult temper, but among the strongest in the world. Although he’s reluctant, Morville will leave Milan and move to Palmi, in order to clean up his image. In Palmi he will come up against a world based on honesty, which will turn out to be an unforgettable experience for all concerned.

COMMENTARY
The exuberant crowdfunder, played by Rocco Papaleo, scoots around Palmi on his Ape, tossing flyers and wheedling signatures. In this romantic/sports comedy by the Manetti Bros, set in Palmi, with scenes in Milan and Paris, sports and personalities collide, with characters and their loyalties, flaws, and a zest for getting even who all coalesce in the end and reestablish a balance.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Palmi is the town where our mother is from and where we have spent so much time; we really feel we belong there, for better and for worse. As well as a film about sports, we wanted to capture the soul and the identity of Palmi, which is part of a region, Calabria, that has always been depicted very differently than it is here. What we’ve done is simply make a film about what we have seen with our own eyes and what we’ve experienced. Without straining to reach the unattainable “objectivity”, which likely doesn’t exit. The result is a comedy with a light touch, a tender fairy tale, an exuberant take on sports that, to our surprise, turned out to be our most personal film yet.