The Castle

Danny Biancardi, Stefano La Rosa, Virginia Nardelli France, Italy 2025 72 min.

In a forgotten neighborhood in Palermo, three children turn an abandoned building into their secret, safe place. Angelo, Mery, and Rosy are eleven years old and discover an abandoned school in the middle of their neighborhood while playing. A tender glimpse into the world of fragile young people, in a place where they can safely be themselves without the judgment and influence of the often harsh outside world. 

What adults see as mere rubble is, for three eleven-year-olds in Danisinni, a place brimming with possibility: a room without supervision, without rules, where imagination can roam free. Here, they can grow up at their own pace. But the outside world gradually presses in, and as adolescence approaches, it becomes clear just how fragile this space—and their childhood—really is. With a tender, observant gaze, Danny Biancardi, Stefano La Rosa and Virginia Nardelli follow Angelo, Mery and Rosy in The Castle, which premiered at the prestigious CPH:DOX. A film about friendship and imagination, but also about the fragility of childhood.