Ferrara, September 4, 2026 – Filming of “The State of Silence”, the film dedicated to the story of Federico Aldrovandi, the young man from Ferrara who died in September 2005 and for whose tragic death 4 police officers were convicted of manslaughter, will begin on Monday, September 7 in Ferrara.
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Twenty-one years after his death, the story comes to the big screen through the debut work of director Manuel Benati, produced by Controluce Produzione, a company founded by Stefano Muroni and Valeria Luzi, in collaboration with Ferrara La Città del Cinema. The project stems from a path started in 2024, when Stefano Muroni began a dialogue with the Aldrovandi family with the aim of telling through cinema a story that deeply marked Ferrara and Italy. The announcement of the film’s production came in September 2025, twenty years after Federico’s killing. The screenplay is signed by Valeria Luzi, Manuel Benati, and Stefano Muroni and arises from the desire to tell a story of pain and loss, but also of courage, the search for truth and justice. At the center will be the long journey of the Aldrovandi family and their fight to obtain truth and recognition.
Who Federico was before becoming a story
“The State of Silence” does not want to tell Federico only through the tragedy that made him, unwillingly, a symbol of a story that marked the recent history of the country. The film will mainly try to restore the boy Federico was before becoming a story. Ample space will therefore be dedicated to his adolescence, friends, relationships, affections, and daily life. A narrative choice designed to restore his most intimate and human dimension and to keep his memory alive not only for what happened to him but also for the person he was. The intent is to address especially the new generations, allowing them to know Federico as a boy, even before as a symbol of a battle for truth and justice.
Youth involved in the artistic and technical cast
The film will also be a training opportunity for the new generations entering the world of cinema. Numerous students and alumni of the Blow-up Academy will indeed be involved in the artistic and technical cast, supporting professionals during filming. The set will thus also become a space for direct experience and training, offering young people the opportunity to engage concretely with film work and take a first step into the professional world.
Fundraising
The crowdfunding campaign to support the film’s production is still active and will continue until the end of 2026. To contribute, simply search for “Federico Aldrovandi” on the GoFundMe platform and follow the procedure to make a donation. Participation is also possible anonymously. Those who provide their name and surname will be included in the film’s end credits.
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“An authentic film that speaks to the new generations”
“We are aware of the responsibility of telling such an important story – says Stefano Muroni – and precisely for this reason we have worked for a long time, with respect and alongside the Aldrovandi family. Now we are ready to bring this project to the set, with the goal of making an authentic film, capable of portraying Federico in his complexity and also speaking to the new generations.”
The filming of “The State of Silence” will take place in Ferrara. The film is born with the aim of preserving and transmitting the memory of Federico Aldrovandi, while involving the territory and the young professionals who are building their future in cinema.
The story
Federico Aldrovandi died in Ferrara on September 25, 2005. The night before, the 18-year-old had gone with friends to a club in Bologna. Then, on the way back, shortly before dawn and after some residents reported a young man causing a disturbance, there was a police check that led to a scuffle and the boy’s death. The judges, after a long judicial process that ended with three levels of judgment, attributed the boy’s death to a “negligent excess in the legitimate use of weapons” by the four officers from the Ferrara police station who intervened for the check. Police officers Monica Segatto, Paolo Forlani, Enzo Pontani, and Luca Pollastri were definitively sentenced to 3 and a half years in prison for manslaughter.
