Cinema Coming-of-age film "Becaària" by Erik Bernasconi in Solothurn
The film "Becaària" by Erik Bernasconi premiered at the Solothurn Film Festival on Friday. Keystone-SDA met the Ticino director for an interview.
24.01.2026, 09:01
SDA
The film follows the teenager Mario Zanetti (Francesco Tozzi). After failing grammar school - or secondary school, as it was called back then - he is unsure about his future. In the background is his strained relationship with his father, who considers him a slacker and therefore sends him to work with farmers in the mountains in the summer of 1977.
The film is an adaptation of the book "Il becaària" by Ticino writer Giorgio Genetelli, which was published in 2011. Erik Bernasconi met the author in 2008 on the set of "La valle delle ombre" (The Valley of Shadows) by Mihály Györik (2009): "I was an assistant director, he was an extra," the filmmaker told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Freedom in writing
The two met again in 2011 and Genetelli told Bernasconi that he had written a book and would be delighted if it became a movie. When the director read the novel, he was "thrilled from a literary point of view" and decided to tackle the film adaptation together with producer Michela Pini.
The author's only request was "not to betray the spirit of the novel". "I don't think I betrayed him, but let's see what he'll tell me when he discovers the movie in Solothurn," says the director.
Bernasconi worked on the film for almost fifteen years, with interruptions for other projects. At the Solothurn Film Festival, "Becaària" will be in the running for the Prix du Public. "There will certainly be a lot of emotions involved: It will be interesting to see how the audience will react," says the filmmaker.
A story about growing up
The term "becaària", which is defined in the film as "a slacker, someone from the city who comes to the mountains to get some fresh air", describes Mario in the eyes of his father and the inhabitants of the valley. In the course of the story, however, the young man shows that he is by no means a slacker.
"'Il becaària' is a bildungsroman. And the film is what is known in the industry as a coming of age, a story about growing up and the search for one's own identity," explains the director. The film deals with themes such as friendship, first love, but also death.
As far as first love is concerned, the director has introduced a new character: Prisca (Sinéad Thornhill), the daughter of the farmer where Mario works. A young woman who is self-confident and knows what she wants. "For me, it was necessary to introduce a female character who is a little different from the novel," he says. He realized that in the 1970s, all the issues concerning the role of women in our society were already on the table.
In the 1970s
The film is set in the 1970s, which was a challenge for the filmmakers. "The difficulty, as with any historical film, is mainly in the costumes and the set, but that's also the most fun part," says Bernasconi.
The filming location in the Maggia Valley also posed a challenge. Filming was scheduled to begin the day after the devastating floods of June 29 and 30, 2024 in the Upper Maggia Valley and especially in the Bavona Valley. "The flooding was an event that hit us hard at the start of filming," said Bernasconi. The crew also lost a truck that was never found again.
"Emotionally, this memory will accompany the film," he adds. The credits therefore include the dedication: "To the people who were affected by the floods in the summer of 2024 in Italian-speaking Switzerland."
The film was produced by Cinédokké from Savosa, the release date is not yet known.
