Ciaj Rocchi, Matteo Demonte

Ciaj Rocchi (1976) and Matteo Demonte (1973) are illustrators, videographers and comics authors. They have published the graphic novels Primavera e Autunni (BeccoGiallo 2015 – Andersen prize selection) and Chinamen, un secolo di cinesi a Milano (BeccoGiallo 2017 – Gran Guinigi selection) which is also a documentary with animated drawings and was an exhibition set up at the Mudec in Milan between March and April 2017. Both graphic novels have been translated into Chinese and published by the publisher Dangdang. In 2021 they published La Macchina Zero, Mario Tchou e il primo computer Olivetti and in 2022 Le stelle di Dora, Le sfide del Generale dalla Chiesa (both published by Solferino). Since 2015 they have been editorial illustrators for La Lettura and II Corriere della Sera.

“Making an animated film has been our idea since the beginning. Even before publishing our first book, Primavere e Autunni, we wanted to make it into a cartoon. We believe in the power of cinema to convey content. After all, they are called anime because they have “anima (soul in italian)”. We trained on Peter Greenaway's films, studying his editing techniques, and we've always been self-taught geeks; we tried to do alone what was usually done, and is still done, as a team. We write, draw, animate, sometimes we even use our voice. We make handcrafted products, using almost exclusively our skills. The cartoon summarizes, but does not simplify. It tells by symbols. Giving life and voice to those symbols means giving soul to history. And with Le Stelle di Dora, the voices made the difference: Domitilla D'Amico accompanies us with her sweetness throughout the narration, while Francesco Pannofino, who plays Dalla Chiesa, restores its power. A unique product of its kind, created thanks to the foresight of the 5th Department of the General Staff of Defense who wanted to bet on video as a medium to reach the youngest, and on us as artists, partly for our realistic style, partly because we have agreed to a mad race against time, a sort of special mission to respect the 40th anniversary of the General's death.”