Something is shifting in Italian cinema. In recent years, casting directors have begun to reconsider how they choose actors to play characters with autism.
Le Ali Invisibili (Invisible Wings) is a short film of remarkable power. It confronts autism not from the outside, but from within—with the kind of honesty that only lived experience can bring. The story follows Alessio, a young autistic man who dreams of becoming a professional actor. He runs headlong into the prejudices of theatrical directors, people who claim to value him but instead obstruct him at every turn. I have lived this contradiction many times.
The film also tackles another urgent theme: what comes after the parent dies. It does so through the eyes of an adult child terrified of losing his mother—his only parent, his only anchor. The film is a production of AIFAS Academy, directed by Marco Trionfante in his second feature after Affari Tropp Segreti. The cast includes Lorenzo Flaherty, known for television successes like Distretto di Polizia and RIS - Delitti imperfetti. Assistant director Alessio Piretti (Un medico in famiglia, I Cesaroni, Boris) brings deep experience from prestige television. Cinematographer Alessio Ciaffardoni has worked with directors of the caliber of Paolo Sorrentino, Edoardo De Angelis, Antonio Albanese, and Asia Argento. The editing and post-production fell to Esmeralda Calabria, one of Italy's most respected film editors. A score by maestro Cristiano Corradetti enriches the film, with a special contribution from Gianna Nannini.
The screenplay was written by Marco Trionfante and Giulio Troli, who collaborated with Matteo Garrone on Pinocchio and Dogman. Filming took place in San Benedetto del Tronto and Offida, in the province of Ascoli Piceno—two evocative towns that ground the narrative in real place. The production also engaged students from Liceo Rosetti and Liceo Licini-Orsini, creating a living bridge between cinema and education.
Le Ali Invisibili is more than a film. It is an invitation to see beyond surface, to discover and honor the profound humanity of neurodivergent lives. The short is heading to film festivals across Italy and abroad, with the aim of opening eyes to the reality of autism and the prejudices that surround it.
In every interview I have given, I have tried to repeat something that matters deeply to me: "I don't act in the film—I act in everyday life to meet the expectations of the society around me. When I audition, I'm forced to perform twice. This creates a kind of dissonance."
With work like this, Italian cinema is beginning to tell the story of autism as it actually is, returning to audiences an image of neurodivergence finally seen from the inside. The short is available here.
Another recent film tackling autism is La Vita da Grandi (Life as Adults), directed by Greta Scarano and arriving in theaters April 3rd. Irene (Matilda De Angelis) returns to Rimini to care for her older brother Omar (Yuri Tuci), an autistic young man with large dreams: he wants to marry, have three children, and become a famous rapper. First, though, he must learn to live independently. Like Le Ali Invisibili, La Vita da Grandi takes on the delicate question of what happens after parents can no longer care for their adult children—and it does so with both humor and depth.
The film is based on the true story of siblings Damiano and Margherita Tercon, who together with Philip Carboni (Margherita's fiancé) form the comedy trio I Terconauti. The screenplay is by Sofia Assirelli, Tieta Madia, and Greta Scarano, developed with consultation from Damiano and Margherita Tercon themselves, as well as autism specialists including Dr. Valentina Pasin, whose work is well known to anyone living within the autism community. The film is produced by Matteo Rovere and Groenlandia, in collaboration with Rai Cinema and Netflix, with support from the Emilia-Romagna region, the regional film commission, and the municipality of Rimini.
Yuri Tuci, who is autistic, brings to the screen a performance far closer to lived reality—unfiltered by neurotypical assumptions. This matters immensely. For the first time in a major Italian production, an autistic actor plays an autistic character without mediation or apology.
