The fascinating story of Francesca Cesarini, a young Italian Para Pole Dance athlete and winner of the Italian and World Championships in the discipline.
She is only 15 years old and was born without her hands and one leg.
Over the years, living among the Umbrian hills in central Italy, Francesca developed a growing passion for pole dancing, a discipline of acrobatic gymnastics on a pole. And her skill and enthusiasm has led her family to installing a training pole in their lounge, to performing competitively and finally to becoming world champion.
By continuing to ‘climb like a squirrel’ and her ability to perform light and graceful ‘as a feather’ on the pole, led her to win national competition in Italy in May 2021, followed by a gold medal at the World Championships in just a few months later.
The story of Francesca’s passion and extraordinary talent for acrobatic pole dancing has captured the hearts of people all over the world, and the media closely follows her success. Her story and success is even more endearing given that Francesca lives her life in a simple and ordinary way.
The movie “Come una piuma” (“Like a feather”) is an intimate illustration of the day to day life of a young and incredibly resiliant young athlete.
Francesca’s story attracted director Daniele Suraci to make the documentary “Come Una Piuma” (Like A Feather), which looks at young people and social issues, with original narrative skills and sensitivity. His first short film, ‘Il Passo Della Lumaca’ (The Snail’s Step) was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021, following the success of ‘U Scantu’ (Italy, 2019). Thanks to the support of the Calabria Film Commission, U Scantu won the Fabrique Du Cinema Award for Best Italian Short Film. It was then acquired by Rai Cinema.
Francesca’s passion for acrobatic pole dancing could not leave CIV indifferent, for which financial action is not separate from philosophical and therefore human action. It is these values that CIV directs its gaze towards, and everything that concerns humans in their complexity and completeness, therefore extending its work into social, sporting, cultural, artistic and philosophical spheres.