When we made Futura we chose to use basic reportage methodology; we draw inspiration from the skillful documentary-making of the likes of Nuto Revelli, and from the books by Stefano Laffi. Since the beginning, the story of this film has been indissolubly linked to his work and research on juvenile cultures.

To define our work methodology we looked at great Italian television reportages from the Sixties and Seventies, made by directors like Soldati, Comencini and Rossellini. Those reportages represent still today a fundamental testimony, a tool that helps us read our history, past and future. We had no preliminary thesis to follow, and soon our journalistic attitude turned into curiosity for the lives of others, the sheer pleasure of discovering collectivity.

We started by writing down together a set of questions that we wanted to ask boys and girls from fifteen to twenty years of age. We improved and modified this questionnaire along the way, as the youngsters we met spontaneously suggested to us topics that were closer to them. We have picked a wide age range that encompasses a time in life ruled by uncertainty, a time when people think about what they will become, hence their future. By that age, many young people are already adults, and as many are still children, depending on their background, roots, environment and experiences.

We opted for a light shooting schedule that allowed us to brush against situations and bump across stories. We turned down the observational film's long shooting schedule in favor of a wide tableau made of images that are ready to become memory. To us, the greatest value of this film lies in its ability to escape the dynamics of fast consumption and to stand the test of time as a testimony to its age. 

How do you tell about these boys and girls? By giving them the opportunity to talk about themselves, to freely express themselves, and watch them while they are creating their own storytelling.

In a way, this is a "superficial" film. It does not try to simulate a depth of focus that would be like a blackmail. It moves on the surface of youth. The film's storytelling is always collective, as opposed to a more common individualist style, and it unspools through a string of episodes, stories and movements inside the film.

To empower and reinforce this collectiveness, we chose to interview boys and girls who knew each other (friends, groups from the same school or sharing common experiences), so that they were more likely to spontaneously discuss and debate the topics we asked them about. This allowed us filmmakers to take a step back and give the youngsters the maximum freedom to make their own storytelling.