A story of rebirth through sport and friendship in the Italian teen drama «Effetto Giò», broadcast every day since yesterday on Rai Gulp, at 2.45pm and 8pm, and available in boxset on RaiPlay. Twenty episodes conceived and produced by Simona Ercolani, author of the series story with Angelo Pastore and Olimpia Sales, with a focus on adolescence, but capable of also involving the adult audience. Protagonist Giovanna known as Giò (Sofia Migliaccio), a fifteen-year-old who moved from Rome to the province, to the house of her uncle Rino (Erik Tonelli as an adult, Giovanni Papagni as a boy), brother of her father Matteo, who died in a car accident with his wife Laura .
Marked by mourning and feelings of guilt for not having been able to help a friend who was a victim of bullying, Giò has abandoned volleyball, the sport that made her parents meet and fall in love with her, and finds it quite difficult to integrate into the new environment. But thanks to her new schoolmates, she regains her passion and starts playing again. Through sport she also recovers the relationship with her uncle, which was initially rather conflictual. In his journey of rebirth, Giò will also have to deal with his family’s past: rummaging through his parents’ memories, he finds mini DVs from the 90s, through which he will relive their youth on the volleyball field, their love , their victories and their defeats, experiences that she herself is experiencing in the present. Playing them in these flashbacks are Giordano Focchetti and Giulia Roberto from Messina, 18 years old, sister of the actor Christian and interpreter of Lia Levi in the 2019 docufilm «Children of Destiny».
«Playing Laura was an incredible experience for the possibility of wearing period clothes and experiencing those years both in the outfits and in the routine of the young people and of the character in particular. Laura is in fact a happy and confident girl and she loves Rino very much, her best friend. However, she will experience a conflictual relationship with Matteo, which will transform into love and will continue until adulthood, with implications that will touch the life of Giò herself, with whom many kids who experience similar situations can identify.”
The contribution of director Raffaele Androsiglio was fundamental above all in rendering the visual effect of the vintage video camera. «The camera was held by Giovanni Papagni, and we had the task of managing the shots. Raffaele helped us use it in a realistic and credible way.” The cast also includes Luca Varone, Pierpaola Janvier, Jacopo Iebba, Lorenzo Rho and Valeria Zazzaretta. The series is produced by Stand By Me in collaboration with Rai Kids.
