"In Milan, one can live with just three euros and forty cents"

“One day, I opened my PostPay account, and it literally said: three euros and forty cents. I couldn’t help but laugh in despair.” There is no pretense in Antonino Giannotta’s debut film, as he is quick to emphasize. Precarity, a sense of disorientation, and an empty wallet are lived experiences of youth—not just his own—and they serve as the fuel for his feature-length film titled Three Euros and Forty. The film is currently touring Italy, with screenings in urban theaters presented by its creator. It has even reached prestigious and influential events like the Porretta Terme Film Festival. “This wasn’t even the first time it happened to me. The lowest point was 72 cents. I wondered how many other young people were living in my same condition, and most importantly, if we all shared the same sense of shame. But if we’ve done everything they taught us and still can’t live with dignity, whose fault is it?”

A Generation's Outcry in Giannotta’s Film

This small yet powerful social commentary film reflects the vital and enterprising spirit of Giannotta, known as Nino on social media, who started his project on digital platforms. Born in 1995 and hailing from Calabria, the debut filmmaker and screenwriter—who collaborated on the script with Lapo Mamoli Aprile—began as an acting student before falling in love with directing. His passion led him to reach an ever-widening audience, making him one of Italy’s most-followed influencers in the realm of cinema. “Thanks to social media, I’ve seen more and more opinions emerge, not just from journalists or intellectuals. There, I observed a disillusioned youth transforming their frustration into a determination to live only with awareness and serenity, as we deserve,” Antonino Giannotta explains. “We are young people with no purchasing power, who will never afford a house or a car. In such moments, I’m reminded of Gaber, who said his generation lost because they didn’t realize it. During the Three Euros and Forty tour, I encountered adults who admitted guilt, and a mother confessed that in her time, they asked far fewer questions.”

Three Euros and Forty: A Low-Budget Project

Reflecting the spirit of Three Euros and Forty, its production was itself a near-zero-budget endeavor (by cinematic standards) powered by crowdfunding. “We wanted to show audiences that you don’t need millions to tell a story,” the director explains. “This also led us to reflect on the language of different mediums used—photos, cinema, and paintings. The only thing missing was statues, but marble is too expensive, so maybe we’ll use it for the sequel.” After pitching the project and inviting followers and others to contribute, Nino raised just over 1,000 euros, which fed his team and housed a crew of over 10 people in his 60-square-meter home.

With 340 euros from an aunt, 200 from his father, and 500 from film educator Stefano Ressico, Giannotta and his team completed a roughly hour-long film about a young man running, running all day for job interviews, whose thoughts materialize in floating paintings on a black background created by Niccolò Moretti. “The production phase mirrored the screenplay—it was all justified. That was rule number one: if I couldn’t justify an element as valuable to the film, I didn’t include it. Every shot was a deliberate choice, a coherent way to visually tell the story, with a group of people who, despite having other jobs, found the time and energy to make small sacrifices,” Giannotta shares.

The City of Milan Today

The project is also, surprisingly, a heartfelt ode to Milan, a city that has stolen Nino’s heart. “Milan has so much to offer, and if you study it well, it’s not bad at all. In the film, through a long walk, I tried to capture it from a different perspective, filming iconic locations emptied of people. I wanted to give it space to breathe while meeting three artists who defined Milan: Alda Merini, Giorgio Gaber, and Enzo Jannacci. This walk includes conversations about art, which is how humanity expresses itself, revealing a lesser-known side of the city.” Even Giannotta’s inspirations carry a northern touch. While Three Euros and Forty might seem influenced by underground Anglo-Saxon cinema, its roots are deeply tied to Italian cinematic traditions. From Massimo Troisi to the trio Aldo, Giovanni, and Giacomo, the young filmmaker aimed to “recreate a bittersweet comedy reminiscent of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, where everything resolves, yet nothing truly does.” Three Euros and Forty weaves together artwork, zodiac sign musings (“I’m a Virgo, which explains why I can’t hold back on saying what I think. That’s why my life is a circus, but I’m fine with that!”), and the reality of a young man who knows work because he’s never shied away from it.

A response to the stagnation of both the job and film markets, the project follows the current trend of Italian independent films filling theaters across the country. It encapsulates the ultimate purpose of Three Euros and Forty: “My mother, dreaming of a secure job for me, sent my résumé around for positions at the post office or in civil service. Instead, I found myself in a project that made me fall in love with directing and the way the eternity of an image can bend to your ideas. From there, through the many jobs I juggled while studying, I kept learning, and social media came along when I got tired of seeing great films poorly distributed. I wanted to surround myself with people who shared my love for art and cinema. Now was the time to give voice to a jammed system.” And apparently, to do so, all you need is just three euros and forty cents.