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WE ARE THE THOUSAND

by Anita Rivaroli

SYNOPSIS

Fabio Zaffagnini has a dream: to get his favorite band Foo Fighters to play live in his Italian home city Cesena. But how can he persuade this world-famous group to come? By getting a thousand musicians together to play their song “Learn to Fly” as a tribute to them, that’s how.

Fabio’s mission seems impossible. How can they ever get enough money together? How can they find enough suitable musicians? An appeal on YouTube brings in a flood of moving stories from dedicated guitarists, singers, and drummers—most of whom are amateurs doing very different jobs in daily life. But now, like Fabio, they’ve decided this is the moment to pursue their dream.

After a year of preparations, everyone taking part in the Rockin’ 1000 event has come together. Each and every one of them – the punk, the retiree, the teen, and the teacher—are euphoric to be members of the biggest rock band in history (after just a single successful day’s rehearsal). The video of their performance soon goes viral, and gets noticed by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters. A feelgood film about pipe dreams, pluck, and perseverance.

DETAILS

78 mins

2020

Italy

Italian, English

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TRAILER

CREDITS

Director: Anita Rivaroli

Production: Simone Catania & Francesca Portalupi for Indyca

Co-production: Primitive Entertainment

Cinematography: Pasquale Remia

Editing: Roberto di Tanna

Screenplay: Anita Rivaroli

BIOGRAPHY

DIRECTOR - ANITA RIVAROLI

Anita Rivaroli was born in Cesena and graduated from Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia as a screenwriter. Her short film “A Summer Tale” won Best Film at World Youth Alliance Manhattan Film Festival and received many awards in the Italian festival circuit. She directed all the videoclip for Rockin’1000 that reached more than 60M views. As screenwriter she wrote several television series for the Italian market, such as “Tutto può succedere” e “SKAM_Italia”. She has a few series in development for international channels, such as Canal Plus and Netflix. “We are the Thousand” is her first feature documentary.

SELECT FESTIVALS

ROME FILM FEST 2020〡SXSW 2021 - AUDIENCE AWARD〡HOT DOCS 2021〡IDFA 2021〡DOCAVIV 2021〡CALGARY IFF - AUDIENCE AWARD〡MELBOURNE IFF 2021〡BRAUNSCHWEIG IFF 2021〡LUXEMBOURG CITY FILM FESTIVAL 2021〡DOCS BARCELONA 2022

PRESS

"Oozes pure joy"
- Camillo De Marco, Cineuropa

"Exceptional... We Are The Thousand is an inspiring motion picture created for the musician and music lover in all of us. It fills you with a euphoric enthusiasm."
- Josiah Teal, Film Threat

"A delightful story... viewers can strap in for a wonderful display of just how far some people will take a silly idea."
- Alex Hudson, Exclaim

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