40 secondi

An argument for a simple misunderstanding turns into a savage beating that, in 40 seconds, takes the life of Willy Monteiro Duarte, a twenty-one-year-old boy. Casual encounters, rivalries and simmering tensions all intertwine in the twenty-four hours that precede the tragic event.

COMMENTARY
The story explores the fragilities and contradictions of human nature, revealing how flimsy the boundaries can be between normality and violence, between empathy and indifference, in a world where life can be ended from one moment to the next. Alfieri masterfully directs both the professional actors and the young people selected by “street casting”, and offers a surprisingly personal re-interpretation of Pasolini’s teachings.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
When I was asked to write a film about Willy’s death, I was reticent at first. I couldn’t understand what my point of view would be.
When I read the book by Federica Angeli, I had an epiphany. In the very first pages the author asks herself: How did Willy and his assassins start the day that led to their end? Will they have hugged their families, will they have gone to work? Because this is a story about ordinary kids. It is not a crime story, but one about sorrow, about people like us.
I wanted to talk about young men and their fragilities that, by a terrible twist of fate, meet and intertwine in the space of twenty-four hours in a crescendo of tension.