On the Path to Freedom with Yaya and Lenny, Seeking Our Place in the World: “Hymn to Wild Thought, To Nature That Is Life and Hope”

After a mysterious turmoil, the world as we know it today has come to an end. Nature has firmly taken over the planet and now the jungle covers the whole earth.

From under the ruins of the world that once was, a new society is trying to rise again. We are talking about the “Establishment”, whose adherents are trying to restore the previous order by imposing their concept of law on the free in the jungle. But there are those who are vehemently opposed to the process of “civilization”: the dissidents are preparing their revolution.

This is the story of two free spirits who want to find their place in the world. yayaA tough-tempered girl with an indomitable spirit, h lennya young man over two meters tall and suffers from mental retardation.

United by a deep bond, they take care of each other in an effort not to snatch the only truly remaining wealth: their freedom.

Yaya and Lenny – The Walking Liberty It is the new production signed by the animation team for entertainment frenzyDirected by Alessandro Rac that after the art of happiness And the Cinderella cat He gives us a green fable, a story, a short story. But above all, a hymn to selfless, brotherly love. He is ignorant and careless. Monday – March 14 at 20.30 In a special ceremony organized by the Film Culture Association Aunt Lydia’s Social Club to me MovieplexThey will also arrive with the director Dario Sanson and the fittest Marino Guarnieri to meet the audience.

But while we were waiting to share that vision, we had a chat with Alessandro Rack to join him in this film and in what he does among the landscapes, treks, and walks that are the breath of every healthy thought: “The story of Yaya and Lenny owes so much to the novel men and mice by Steinbeck, which offers an entirely different kind of setting, but one that also arose in a historical context of great political and social uncertainty and confusion, just as it was the American Great Depression. The idea was that two characters lost in search of their place in this wild world, and were immediately convinced that one of them must be a woman, specifically to celebrate the power of the female universe and the possibility of true love in a confrontation with nature in a world painted, colorful and lively, where the best can finally be achieved Human Characteristics. They also represent to a certain extent the condition of those who do our work, on the one hand it seems always to be in the clouds and on the other hand a quickness of thought, alertness, and clear action.”

Directed by Alessandro Rac

Very recent work Let’s look at it today, as we are going through a pandemic and at the gates of Europe, the conflict begins with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The post-apocalyptic scenario does not seem far off: “On our part there was a will to question the free will of man, to suppose it, to assert that there is something greater that affects our lives, and even if we delude ourselves that this is not the case, in the end we see the manifestation of this power. In The movie, everything is questioned, trying to suggest different viewpoints, relying on wild thought to remind us of the environment in which our existence moves and what the real rules are that govern it.It is very strange that an animated movie looks so contemporary, because the processing times are always so long, But it remains full of these issues that have been of our society for some time, such as the climate crisis. And I think he was able to grasp – through the professionals who worked on the images – also the context of the health emergency and its consequences.”

Yaya and Lenny learn to take care of each other, in a society trying to maintain civil coexistence with increasingly strict or twisted rules, laws of revenge, or by building walls, while entropy and causes of division grow. Social and Regional: “There is a completely different kind of thinking around them, instead, they do not follow any philosophy, they let themselves go because they were born in the wilderness and brought up in brotherhood, they are people who support each other, respect their liberties, then it is the origin and solid foundation of every society Certainly, it is not a film that offers real solutions to the problems we face, but rather it depicts the world in its most contradictory aspects, and we who made it took the path of deep contemplation.”

Frame from the movie Yaya and Lennie-The Walking Liberty

Modeling environments and characters, building the storyboard directly in 3D, right through to animation and post-production obviously, working with animators means being free: “Our commitment is choral commitment, and most of all animation film gives us a chance to innovate and imagine, to be amazed When a man or a dinosaur walks in. Our idea has always been to create a dialogue between what can be credible and what looks amazing, in an almost cinematic relationship with believable, from the live films that we always try to preserve, for example with completely non-illustrative photography. Like Imprisoned Animators».

animation team entertainment frenzy It is made up of a very tight and relatively small group. This allows you to quickly share information and suggestions, all working on one project for its entire duration, making it a choral work. A rare challenge in Italy, a battle of more than just a dream to live in: “Our studio and its existence, trumpeted by the drive of imagination, is linked to translating ideas into reality, reality is a place of spirit, entertainment and creativity and all this is often considered little and nothing. Two complex years have passed, and we are isolated in front of our screens. , and we have lost part of our collective action, and we have always been cohesive, united even in space, like a group of friends walking side by side, but we remain in search of ideas. And the right spirit to implement and transmit them.”