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Ale's Project came about as a collaboration between 16 year old Alessia, a budding pianist on the autism spectrum and a team of professional artists. Alessia’s talent, commitment to music and ‘joie de vivre’ are the inspiration behind this project.
As a teenage pianist with autism, she engages with music in a distinctive way, expressing a vast world of lived experiences that she is unable to express verbally. Through the making of a short film, this project attempts to communicate Alessia’s unique relationship with music, and celebrate her multiple abilities while respectfully acknowledging the challenges which she faces. Alessia's different perspective and the way she experiences the world was the driving force behind the aesthetic language and workshop-led research which was developed by her collaborators.
The creation of this short film was employed as a catalytic agent within a series of workshops for a variety of audiences, encouraging a positive turn in participants’ attitudes towards persons with disabilities.
Creative team - Alessia Bonnici (painist, main artist), Ilia Chkolnik (composer), Francesca Fenech, Jade Toft, Francesca Vella, Estelle Zahra, Julienne Schembri, Estelle Zahra (dancers).
Production team - Cynthia Bonnici (producer), Niels Plotard (artistic director/ filming and editing), Rosetta Debattista (associate director), Florinda Camilleri (movement director, researcher, assistant to producer, team coordinator), Sara Accettura (dance coach), Francesca Mercieca (co-director, set designer), Gabriel Zammit (assistant to producer, researcher, PR), Moritz Zavan Stoeckle (light designer), Michela Manduca (costume designer, makeup artist), Anton Saliba (production manager), Noel Zahra (graphic designer), Elyse Tonna, Caroline Curmi, Maria Pisani, Jamie Barbara, Kriz Haze, Gabriel Zammit, Anton Saliba, Niels Plotard, Duncan Bonnici (set building), Mark Bonello (carpenter), Salvu Zahra (transport).
This project was funded by Arts Council Malta, AX Foundation, Janatha Stubbs Foundation, Sherries Estates - Garden, Pets & Home and Melita FoundationSupported by Malta School of Music, Villabianca, Teatru Salesjan, Ilia Chkolnik and Temple StudiosEndorsed by the Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), Faculty of Social Wellbeing – University of Malta, Disability Studies at UM, School of Performing Arts at UM, Women for Women, Opening Doors Malta, Autism Parents Association, Prisms Malta.