titolo originale: Il magico Natale di Rupert
regia: Flavio Moretti
cast: Piera Cravignani, Gianmaria Corolla, Clara Droetto, Renato Liprandi, Piera Cravignani
sceneggiatura: Flavio Moretti
fotografia: Pietro Sciortino
montaggio: Ilaria Fraioli
scenografia: Giuseppe Garau
costumi: Patrizia Ciairano
musica: Andrea Tosi
effetti visivi: Michele Guaschino, Massimo Sponza
produttore: Silvio Pedersoli, Giovanni Saulini, Silvia Innocenzi
produzione: Unistudio, Orione Cinematografica, con il contributo del MiBAC, in collaborazione con Rai Cinema
distributore: ISTITUTO LUCE
paese: Italia
anno: 2003
durata: 85’
formato: 35mm colore
aspect ratio: 1:1.85
uscito in sala: 03/12/2004
premi e festival: Fantasporto: Oporto International Film Festival 2005: In Concorso

E’ la vigilia di Natale, la nonna lascia a Rupert alcuni incarichi tra cui quello di riassettare la soffitta. Rupert suo malgrado si appresta ad eseguire l’ordine ma viene sopraffatto da molte sorprese. In soffitta trova, tra le svariate invenzioni del nonno accumulate dopo la sua scomparsa, una rudimentale macchina del tempo.I veri guai per Rupert arrivano quando attacca alla presa della corrente una strana lampada che, a sua insaputa, emana segnali che si propagano nello spazio e raggiungono un’astronave aliena di passaggio intorno alla terra. Propio in quell’attimo il ragazzo intravede una luce che solca il cielo e un piccolo pacco che sta precipitando. Viene aperto, dalla scatola escono dei piccoli, micidiali alieni. Sono pronti ad invadere la casa...

Rupert’s Magic Christmas Synopsis

Like every year young Rupert is staying with his terrible grandmother Porfilia for Christmas. She leaves him home alone with the task of finding the tip for the Christmas tree that should be in the garret. There he finds something much more interesting, an old trunk containing the inventions of Rufus, the genial ex lodger of the garret. One of the strange objects he finds is a lamp, he clicks it on, and it starts sending hostile messages into the space reaching an alien ship floating nearby the earth. Unaware Rupert receives a packet from the sky. Must be Santa who sent it! He opens the box full of hope but instead of a gift he finds a bunch of small, aggressive aliens ready to conquer his house…

Rupert’s Magic Christmas

Director’s note

“Rupert’s Magic Christmas” is my first long movie. It’s a magical story that includes all the things I’ve always been fond of like cartoons, modelism and optical special effects. I’ve had for the first time the opportunity of shooting in a real studio (Unistudio in Venaria – TO) where we have built a village completely covered with snow. For this movie I have chosen to use forced perspective an old technique from the 20th century that was also used in the ‘40s and ‘50s to realize movies like “Dr. Cyclops”, “The Incredible Shrinking Man” and “Darby O’Gill and the little people”. I have personally built all the alien’s ships and weapons while Michele Guaschino made the models of the aliens and some copies in full size to shoot the close-ups. Photography is also very important for a fantasy movie. In “Rupert’s Magic Christmas” the director of photography was Pietro Sciortino who managed to give to the movie a look inspired by the colours of American movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Unfortunately Pietro passed away on 28th February 2004. This movie is dedicated to him.

Flavio Moretti