Beppe Tufarulo’s Live Action Short Baradar (Brother) shares the true story about the harsh separation of two migrant brothers
Beppe Tufarulo’s short film Baradar (Brother) focuses on two brothers who are forced to separate. This moving short film which is based on real-life story of Alí Ehsani and his Autobiography Stanotte Guardiamo le Stelle has won 21 Awards and has been selected for more than 50 film festivals around the world, including Oscar-qualifying Chicago International Children Film Festival and Uppsala International Short Film Festival. It was a finalist at the David di Donatello 2020 (the Italian Oscars).
Three years after a bomb destroyed their home and killed their parents, and a perilous journey that brought them at the gates of Europe, 10-year-old Ali and his 18-year-old brother Mohammed are forced to separate.
The film is shot in Dari language and features as co-leads two real-life brothers and non-professional actors: Nawid and Danosh Sharifi are two teen Afghan boys who arrived in Italy 3 years ago to reunite with their older brother, after the death of their parents.
Director Beppe Tufarulo is a talented director who has worked on commercials, documentaries, fictions and kickstarted his career at MTV where he directed TV shows, music videos and documentaries then moved on to branded content for brands including Armani, Diesel and Timberland. Beppe directed the documentary I Figli della Shoah for Rai Cinema, music documentaries for Sky Arte HD (i.e. Gomorrah Sound) and Armani Privé – a view beyond, a documentary about Italian fashion master Giorgio Armani. His latest work is Ferro, the acclaimed documentary for Amazon Prime on Tiziano Ferro, one of Italy’s top singer-songwriters. Tufarulo is currently developing his first feature film and working as series director on a new Amazon Prime project. His short film Baradar (Brother) has garnered 21 awards and 50+ nominations at a variety of international film festivals so far, including being a finalist at David di Donatello 2020.
Producer Daniele Gentili has been working on feature films, documentaries, commercials, music videos and TV programs since 2004. In 2009, Daniele co-founded Tapeless Film with Beppe Tufarulo and 4 other partners. Gentile has worked with several award-winning directors such as Paolo Sorrentino, Matteo Rovere, Sidney Sibilia, Dalibor Matanic, Costanza Quatriglio, Ronnie Sandahl and many more, filming on over 15 countries worldwide. He is currently working on a number of projects, including tv series Blocco181 for Sky Studios and Matteo Rovere’s fifth film. Baradar was co-produced by Lucia Nicolai and Marcello Paolillo under their production banner Art of Panic. Lucia is a Senior TV & Film Executive with over 20 years experience in the entertainment industry. She was the executive producer of well known short films such as Academy award nominee Miracle Fish (2009) directed by Luke Doolan and Air (2009), directed by Luke Davies, and collaborated to the production of Netherland Dwarf (2008), directed by David Michôd and Spider (2007), directed by Nash Edgerton. In 2018, she founded the production company Art of Panic with Marcello Paolillo, a Senior Film Executive with a strong background and extensive experience in distribution, production, acquisition, international sales and film festivals organization and programming. He worked with directors such as Alfonso Cuaron and Alex de la Iglesia and sold internationally titles by Charlie Kaufman, Frank Oz, Ira Sachs, and many more. Together, they executive produced the documentary The Man Who Stole Banksy (2018) directed by Marco Proserpio and narrated by Iggy Pop, which premiered in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival. They recently produced the feature film Tigers by Ronnie Sandahl (writer of Borg McEnroe), which premiered in October 2020 at the Rome Film Festival.
Editor and Writer Francesco Casolo’s books deal with exceptional stories. Together with Alì Ehsani, he wrote Stanotte Guardiamo le Stelle (Feltrinelli 2016) and I Ragazzi Hanno Grandi Sogni (2018), and with Arctic explorer Robert Peroni wrote a trilogy (Dove il Vento Grida Più Forte, I Colori del Ghiaccio and In Quei Giorni di Tempesta, all published by Sperling & Kupfer) about the extraordinary, fascinating universe of Greenland’s Inuit. In 2012, Francesco wrote and directed the documentary I Resilienti, a reportage from Cairo on the Arab spring which was presented at the Beirut Film Festival and was awarded a prize at the Lampedusa Film Festival. Casolo recently published Se Hai Sofferto Puoi Capire (Chiarelettere, 2017), a story told in first-person by an HIV positive kid.
The beautiful cinematography was provided by Francesco di Pierro who is a regular collaborator of Beppe Tufarulo and Baradar is sold internationally by Premiere Film.
