Giovanni, Paolo and the mystery of the puppets: the antimafia cartoons

Rosalba Vitellaro and Alessandra Viola are two very creative and professional Sicilian women, who are madly in love with cartoons.
One day, while driving to the beach, they are listening to a song by the Sicilian songwriter Carmen Consoli dedicated to Giovanni Falcone, the prosecution Attorney killed by the Mafia. “I think it would be wonderful to make a cartoon about Falcone and Paolo Borsellino [the other D.A. killed by a mafia bomb] – says Rosalba –. The new generations do not even know who they were and what they did.” It took the two artists a longer time than expected to make the idea come true. Nonetheless, thanks to Raitrade – which presented the cartoon at the international buyer convention in Cannes and will distribute it worldwide-, Raifiction production, Larcadarte – a Palermo production company- and the Sicily region, the project was finally realized. "Giovanni e Paolo e il mistero dei pupi” is now a 26-minute long cartoon, which develops a sophisticated metaphor of good versus evil, with the magic soundtrack by Samples from Verona. Alessandra explains the project: «We want it to be a fantastic story because it needed to reach the youngest audience in school and on TV in the most efficient way. The message had to be clear and unmistakable. We didn’t want the good characters to succumb in the end, and the evil characters to be charming and fascinating. The cartoon tells the story of two best friends, Giovanni and Paolo, who in the 1950s are getting ready for the celebrations at Saint Rosalia Festival. Unfortunately, the happy atmosphere is spoiled by the evil Mago Malvagio who transforms in puppets those who ask him for help. The two children fight with all their strength to “free” the puppets and will eventually succeed thanks to the help of other children and their parents. The evil Mago Malvagio will be ultimately defeated, though his shadow will survive and will be reincarnated in another evil person.” Hence, as the cartoon wishes to teach, one should never lower its guard and be always vigilant against evil, which can take any shape, even of a shadow.
The cartoon was approved by Maria Falcone – sister of Giovanni Falcone – and by the widow Borsellino, who both were involved in the project since the beginning.