SLASH://
Cartoon series 26 x 20 '
A co-production of Gruppo Some / Rai Fiction created by Francesco and Sergio Manfio
The series is also developed thanks to funding
of the SLATE FUNDING - MEDIA program of the European Community
SYNOPSIS OF THE SERIES
The series begins in an ancient medieval village in the heart of Tuscany (the Borgo del Merlo) renovated as a summer campus for kids from all over the world. The campus is called "La Tredicesima Torre" (www.tredicesimatorre.it).
The kids who participate in the campus share not only being peers but also a great love for music. In fact, specialization courses are held on campus for young musicians: the boys who participate in the courses are between 12 and 15 years old. The medieval village is dominated by a castle which has not yet been restored and therefore is not accessible.
The ban on entering the castle is very clear to the children and their companions repeat it continuously. This, of course, has the effect of enticing even the most reluctant or the most fearful to think, at least once, of making a visit.
The night before departure Isaiah, a boy from Denver in Colorado (www.isaia.us), Carolina and Matilde, two twins from Florence (www.carolinaematilde.it), Chen, a young girl from Beijing (www.chen.cn) and Tomoya, a boy from Tibet (www.tomoya.t), decide to enter the castle.
The castle seems to have remained exactly as it was during the Middle Ages, only the dust, cobwebs and some intrusive bats make it clear that time has not stopped. The inspection lasts a long time, the boys enter the throne room, the stables, the kitchens and finally discover by pure chance a secret passage hidden in a closet. The secret passage leads to a room carved into the rock that looks like a magician's cave: large books scattered here and there, cruets, crucibles and a large hearth right in the center of the room.
Rummaging through the shelves, Isaiah discovers a large green fluorescent stone. He takes it but unfortunately the stone falls from his hand and breaks. The boys take a small piece each to remember and then leave the castle.
The next day everyone returns home with the promise of keeping in touch and maybe seeing each other again the following year.
The strange thing, however, has yet to happen: as soon as he gets home, Isaiah sits at his computer to read his mail and then to do his usual surfing the internet.
You can imagine his amazement when, having typed the site of the Egyptian Museum in London (Isaiah is an archeology enthusiast), he finds himself catapulted right inside the Museum. Despite the immense amazement, Isaiah takes the opportunity to pay a visit to the sarcophagus of Tutankamon, who is his favorite pharaoh.
Then, with the same ease with which he entered the site, he returns home. He makes sure he hasn't dreamed and decides to call Carolina to tell her what has happened to him. He is about to make the call when he receives an email from Tomoya saying: "Today an incredible thing happened to me, I traveled the net!". Soon all the boys communicate that they have had the same experience and then, to combine business with pleasure, they meet at the site www.tredicesimatorre.it. In a nanosecond time they find themselves on the campus in Tuscany that they had left only the day before.
It occurs to some that perhaps the cause of it all is the fluorescent green stone they collected in the castle, so they decide to go back and take a look. But this time they find it difficult to find the secret passage inside the wardrobe and, once inside, the pieces of the green stone are no longer there, someone has collected them ... the same person who at that moment is watching them from behind a small window on the vault of the room.
He is a scholar of medieval history - expelled from the scientific community for his bizarre theories to say the least - who has long been on the trail of the secret of the thirteenth tower (www.ilsegretodellatredicesimatorre.com). His name is not known, but his university colleagues simply called him "the Cobra" (www.ilcobra.com). Now the Cobra has discovered the secret of the thirteenth tower, which is the possibility that the stone gives to be transported into space ... only that it has been preceded by six guys who are better scared to death before they can get in the way of its plans.
A rudimentary ghost, in a ruined castle, is the one for him and the boys run away. The Cobra, however, does not know that the boys have taken with them, the day before, a piece of green stone, so he lets them go unaware that they are part of his secret. The frightened boys close the connection and go back to their homes, where they remove the green stone from their pockets and put it in a drawer.
Time passes and curious and inexplicable things begin to happen: for example, Tutankamon's mummy is mysteriously stolen by the Egyptian Museum; the plans for the new Ferrari disappear; the Mona Lisa is stolen; from a nature reserve a very rare giant panda cub is kidnapped and much more ...
Putting together the clues, the boys immediately understand that underneath what is happening there is the hand of someone who, like them, has come into possession of the green stone and is using its powers for evil purposes. After some rethinking, the boys decide to use their green stones and start their investigations ...
In the evolution of the episodes, the relationship between the boys and the Cobra is intertwined to the point that the boys are able to discover their identity: this will lead to the discovery of his refuge through a series of visits to the castle.
Thus began 26 exciting adventures in which the boys and the Cobra fight on equal terms while surfing the web ... The one who has more courage and, above all, that little bit of intelligence will win.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE SERIES:
www.tredicesimatorre.it
It is the campus where young people from all over the world can participate in musical improvement courses, mostly dedicated to instruments such as guitar and percussion. The campus extends throughout the medieval village with the exception of the castle. The children are housed in single rooms scattered around the village. Lunches and dinners are served in the large room of the renovated Benedictine monastery.
www.chen.cn
Chen is a true martial arts expert, practicing with incredible skill.
Instrument: Play the marimba.
Hobby: She is a convinced ecologist and is interested in everything related to the health of the planet and its inhabitants.
www.carolinaematilde.it
Carolina and Matilde are absolutely different twins.
Carolina is a peperino, she wears jeans and a T-shirt and has no interest in fashion, perfumes, gossip, trendy television programs.
Instrument: play the drums.
Hobby: She is a lover of the artistic avant-gardes and all that is experimental.
Matilde dresses like a college girl; she is a dreamer, she is very reflective and carefully ponders each of her choices. It is the exact opposite of the twin.
Instrument: play classical guitar.
Hobby: loves classical music, and everything over 300 years old.
www.isaiah.us
Isaia is a black guy who represents the computer mind of the group.
Instrument: Play the rhythm guitar.
Hobby: He is a lover of archeology. Despite being agile and well coordinated, he is not very familiar with everything related to sport. He has a mathematical mind.
www.tomoya.t
Tomoya lives in the mountains of Tibet and is a bit of a loner. He is a true expert in nature and animals, with whom it is said he can also talk.
Instrument: Play the Tibetan flute.
Hobbies: He is a highly trained ethologist and botanist.
www.ilcobra.com
The Cobra was, until the age of thirty, a talented university researcher, esteemed and appreciated by all his colleagues, who had kindly nicknamed him Cobra because he had protruding ears. At some point, after studying the habits and customs of late medieval magicians, the Cobra began to theorize that some of these magicians were capable of being transported into space.
Because of his research, the Cobra had become the object of ridicule among his colleagues and had not been seen since. He had moved to Borgo del Merlo to find the green stone that allowed him to travel in space at the speed of light.
Once he found the green stone his desire for power had made him a terrible delinquent who traveled to websites making thefts and spreading terror and fear.
In all this there was also a deep desire for revenge for those who had made fun of him.
www.ilsegretodellatredicesimatorre.com
It is said that at the beginning of the Middle Ages the Lord of the Borgo del Merlo castle had hired a magician, a certain Adelante da Pietrasanta, who seemed to have succeeded in making people travel in space. The magician had obtained this incredible possibility by observing the behavior of carrier pigeons. Then the castle had been attacked by some passing barbarians and since that day of the Magus all trace had been lost. Someone claimed to have seen him fly with pigeons ...
Thursday 20 September GRUPPO ALCUNI presents at the CARTOON FORUM
from Girona the pilot of the new animation project "SLASH: //".
Fantastic adventures on the net thanks to a close-knit group of teenagers
and the amazing power of a magic stone.
GRUPPO ALCUNI, the Italian production house famous for the CUCCIOLI (78 x 13 ') and LEONARDO (26 x 13') series, on Thursday 20 September presents at the CARTOON FORUM in Girona, Spain, the latest and innovative project "SLASH: // ".
The series tells the adventures of a group of young people from different countries of the world with a common passion, that for all kinds of music. It is precisely at the "La Tredicesima Torre" campus for musical training that they meet, make friends and become very close. To unite them even more the discovery of a mysterious green stone which, combined with the use of the web, allows them to be teleported on the network, or rather, in the numerous sites that from time to time will be the scenario of each episode.
Their antagonist is the Cobra, a former university researcher who knows the power of the stone and wants to derive power and economic advantage, but above all he is driven by the desire for revenge against colleagues in the academic world who in the past had ridiculed him for his research. .
To characterize the great irony project, funny stories full of many references that are inspired by the interests of young friends and therefore by their browsing on the web and the pages of the sites they open and in which they find themselves catapulted.
Furthermore, always present in the productions of GRUPPO ALCUNI, the series is characterized by a great attention to positive values such as friendship, solidarity, cooperation, creativity, combined with strong ecological references, the awareness of the importance of recovering the traditions of the past and research. inner.
The result, also visible from the pilot that will be previewed in Girona, is that of a modern and extremely captivating project, in which the comic aspects blend with exciting stories, imaginative and very close to the feelings of teenagers from all over the world.
Author of SLASH: // is Sergio Manfio, creative director of GRUPPO ALCUNI, while the executive producer is Francesco Manfio. We both asked some questions:
- "GRUPPO ALCUNI has been producing series for several years that are now famous and aimed at a slightly lower age target (CUCCIOLI for example is a 3-8). How come from Leonardo onwards, and with SLASH: // more and more , is it aimed at a slightly more 'adult' audience? ".
Sergio Manfio: We found it useful to differentiate our production proposals also in the cartoon. In fiction we have been producing the Ciak Junior program since 1989, aimed precisely at this target. Secondly, because we believe that for pre-adolescents the proposal is very limited and often not very much in line with their expectations. SLASH: // it's an attempt to give an answer to that effect.
- "What do you think is the differential of this project?".
Sergio Manfio: In addition to being a comic, funny, modern and exciting cartoon, it is very rich. I mean that with SLASH: // we will give the young user a lot of stimuli and ideas. First of all, the possibility of having "multi-settings" is given by the narrative expedient of travels on the net. In fact, the children will find themselves from time to time in museums, natural parks, artistic monuments but also places of fantasy (the house of Sherlock Holmes, the virtual space of a site dedicated to a musical band, etc.). Secondly, the peculiarity of each character will guide us to discover his interests and ways of being, so we will have musical references, the spiritual world, ecology and much more.
Adds Francesco Manfio: The strength of the series is that everything is wisely calibrated, natural and never forced. The ingredients are varied but they blend perfectly to make us taste a delicious recipe.
- "What difficulties does an independent producer face in Italy today?".
Francesco Manfio: The greatest difficulty for us Italian producers (and I also speak as Vice President of Cartoon Italia) is to create the system that underlies the production. By system I mean a network that brings together producers, of course, but also broadcasters, distribution, festivals and everything that, for various reasons, has to do with the sector with shared objectives. This would allow a more cohesive image of Italian animation to be rendered externally, which at this moment is affected by particularities and tensions that bring the sector back to a "pioneering" at this time not suitable to face the changed conditions of the market.
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