On the days of the fourth anniversary of Willy Monteiro's death (it was September 6, 2020 when he was killed by bullies) at the Venice Film Festival the announcement: on the national day of respect (January 20) it will be broadcast in schools and prisons. Willy's sister, Milena: “The perfect language to communicate values ​​to children”

Willy Monteiro Duarte was 21 years old, originally from Cape Verde, an island off the coast of Africa, and had just left the restaurant where he worked as a cook when he defended a friend who was being attacked by bullies. Exactly four years ago, on September 6, 2020, he was killed in Colleferro (Rome) as a victim of a racist beating. The brutality of the attack had a strong impact on Italian public opinion, so much so that the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella awarded him the Gold Medal for Civil Valor in his memory.

An episode that has now become a 3D animated short film titled “Willy – Different is good”, presented among the “out of competition” happenings of the Venice Film Festival. Students from Side Academy, journalists and world-class professionals in the film and video game fields were present. The artistic director of the Verona academy, Stefano Siganakis, is proud. “We want to work on the themes of inclusion and tolerance,” he explains. “For this reason, our goal now is to present Willy's cartoon to the widest possible audience. We will upload it to websites, take it to schools, invite institutions to spread it. We hope that the message that difference is a value can be conveyed".

Willy's sister, Milena Monteiro, he married the initiative. “The Side Academy cartoon conveys a profound message to kids in a simple and effective way, the same message that our family has been repeating for four years.,” he said in a video message. "Since we are little, we all watch cartoons and it is easier to teach good behaviors to children with this language. We must teach the strength of friendship, the value of being different, the desire to reach the best version of ourselves, the part of us that does good to others: in cartoons, a hug can make even the toughest of bullies become a child again". 

Also present at the screening of the short was the vice-president Cristina Virili of the National Association “Nel Nome del rispetto”, an association that obtained the institution of the national day of respect dedicated to Willy Monteiro, which will be held every year on January 20, and which will contribute to the diffusion of the short in schools of all levels and in prisons that participate in the annual project organized by the Association for the promotion and understanding of the principle of respect among the younger generations.

The municipal administration of Colleferro also supported the project, the mayor was present at the premiere Pierluigi Sanna. "We are grateful for the work of Side Academy”he said “The response of the young generation to the tragedy was one of tolerance, values, solidarity, art, recognition and creativity aimed not at hatred and oppression but at the noble values ​​that Willy was able to distil with his sacrifice”.
The Side Academy teacher was also in the room, Sarah Arduini (Oscar for special effects in the Disney film “The Jungle Book”) and Jan Luc Sala, artistic director of the multinational tech giant Ubisoft, who reiterated the technical quality of the Side Academy guys in creating the short film: the technologies used are the same ones used by video game programmers. 

In the development of the video, Willy's story comes to life through the adventures of a little alien, threatened by bullies, who not only want to humiliate him, but also film the beating and then spread it on social media. From this idea, a contrast between the "bad guys" is born, destined to give the public the emotion of a surprising ending. The result is thanks to the kids and professionals who revolve around the world of Side Academy, which has been classified among the top five best universities, colleges and private academies in the world of 3D animation, a competition in which entities from over 100 nations participate and managed by the platform The Rookies. 
The five and a half minutes of the 3D short were created with pioneering technologies in Italy. One hundred thousand hours of work were needed, distributed for academic needs over a three-year period, which involved about seventy students. Around eight thousand frames were produced by the animators of Side Academy, guided by their teacher Arduini. For the production, the “Unreal Engine” software by Epic Games was used in an innovative way. This software has been the reference “game engine”, for several years, for the world of video games and has allowed the development of titles such as Fortnite, Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Jedi and The Fallen Order.

SIDE ACADEMY 
Side Academy is located in Verona, in the historic center, in a sixteenth-century building that over the centuries has hosted numerous illustrious figures including Louis XVIII. Today, around 200 students study there, the expected turnover for 2024 is three million euros and there is an ambitious growth plan for the three-year period. The general director and founder is Stefano Siganakis. In June 2024, Side Academy obtained fifth place worldwide at the "Rookies Awards", the ranking based on the global platform that decrees the best students of academies and universities around the world (over 100 nations are present). 
Side Academy offers training courses aimed at training professionals specialized in the fields of animated cinema, special effects, advertising and video games. Many of its former students are now "brains on the run from Italy", working on projects for the most famous production companies in the world, from Walt Disney to Marvel to Ducati. The teachers are "top trainers" in the sector and many have won important international awards. 
In addition to teaching, the Side Academy ecosystem also includes “Wargames Studios”, a company specializing in the production of cartoons and video games. In Wargames, the workforce currently stands at around forty people, including teachers and collaborators. The studio deals with animation and computer graphics and takes care of projects for important clients in the sector. Among the original works signed by Wargames Studio, the collaboration and development of the 3D animated short film on Willy Monteiro now stands out. 
Information and contacts on www.sideacademy.com