Fireworks / Stranizza d'amuri

Love as pure and innocent as we’ve loved in Heartstopper is blooming between two Italian boys in the scorching summer of 1982. But their situation is complicated by the heavily homophobic atmosphere of a Sicilian town. Seventeen-year-old Gianni went through an involuntary coming-out and is struggling with constant attacks, while Nino is surrounded by a loving family blissfully unaware of his sexuality. A coincidence brings their paths together and the boys become inseparable friends. Their friendship soon sprouts into pure love and the only thing they yearn for is to live their love story without fear. But the Sicilian society, explosive as the fireworks Nino’s father sells, does not forgive otherness. Will innocence and emotion prevail over conservatism and harshness, or will it just burn and leave merely a bitter rainbow smoke behind? This film based on true events will melt your heart and convince you that true love exists.