An elementary school in northern Italy where all the pupils are children of migrants lies at the heart of The Last Class, a new creative documentary by Italian filmmaker Michele Fornasero (SmoKings) currently in late production. The project, pitched at this year’s Thessaloniki Pitching Forum, is produced by Epica Film and Indyca and is seeking co-production partners, financiers, broadcasters and sales agents as it moves towards completion.
Set in a small village of roughly 400 inhabitants in the countryside of Piedmont, the 90-minute documentary follows the final school year of a unique classroom bringing together nine children aged between six and ten. The twist: all of them are children of migrant families, while many Italian families in the area have opted to send their children to neighbouring towns instead.
Fornasero explained to the professionals in Thessaloniki that the project grew out of curiosity about the dynamics surrounding this unusual classroom. “Among these empty houses and deserted streets there is still one elementary school attended by nine children, all gathered in a single class,” he said. “People in the village started calling it a ‘ghetto school’, and many families decided to send the few Italian children to another town. I became very curious to understand what was going on in this class that everybody seemed to avoid.”
The film follows the pupils over the course of a year, observing their friendships, conflicts and everyday life both inside and outside the classroom. Fornasero spent months filming the children in their school environment and gradually expanding the scope to their family lives and the broader community. “Little by little I got to know their stories, their growing paths, their relationships and conflicts,” he noted. “After a while I also started following them outside the school, with their families and in the village.”
One sequence encapsulates the bittersweet tone of the project: during Halloween, the children attempt to go trick-or-treating, only to find that almost nobody opens the door in the near-abandoned village. “It was a very awkward and tragicomic moment,” the helmer recalled.
Halfway through filming, the story took an unexpected turn. Local authorities announced that the school would be closed the following year – meaning the film was capturing the final months of the class’s existence. “So I realised I was filming their last year of school – their last class,” Fornasero disclosed. “Inside the classroom there is life, energy and relationships growing, but outside the village is dying and seems to prefer disappearing rather than accepting a new culture that could help it survive.”
The documentary aims to juxtapose the vitality of the children with the demographic and cultural decline of the surrounding community. “If the village doesn’t accept new people, it will disappear,” the director argues. “Most residents are elderly. The children bring energy, but in the end they leave, and that energy leaves with them.”
Producer Alice Drago of Epica Film tells how the story resonated immediately on both a personal and a broader social level. “As the mother of a seven-year-old attending a multicultural school in a big city, I was immediately struck by this story,” she explained. “Here the same dynamic unfolds in a very small rural community, and that twist makes it particularly powerful.”
Drago believes the project has strong international relevance. “Many villages across Europe – and beyond – are facing similar challenges linked to depopulation, migration and identity. I’m sure many of you have encountered places like this. That’s why we believe the film has strong international potential.”
While the topic touches on sensitive issues of migration and prejudice, Fornasero emphasises that the film seeks nuance rather than confrontation. The tension between the classroom and the wider village is subtle, he said, often revealing contradictions rather than outright hostility.
“On a one-to-one basis many villagers actually have good relationships with the migrant families,” he noted. “Some of the children’s mothers work as caregivers for elderly residents. But collectively there is still fear – a sense that migrants might somehow replace the village’s culture. The people are not villains; they are often just old, scared and uncertain about change.”
The documentary also challenges stereotypes surrounding migrant families. During filming, the director observed parents strongly encouraging their children’s education, sometimes more actively than assumed by local residents. “When I visited the children’s homes, I saw mothers pushing their kids to study hard because they want them to have opportunities they themselves didn’t have,” he said.
Narratively, The Last Class is conceived as an ensemble portrait rather than focusing on a single protagonist. Among the nine pupils, several children will emerge as central figures, including a boy who initially struggles with shyness and another who recalls being bullied in earlier years because he did not yet speak Italian.
“The film is quite choral,” Fornasero explained. “Three or four children will probably become more prominent because we follow them also with their families, but in the end they all move together as a group.”
The production has already secured roughly 40% of its €250,000 budget and has shot approximately 80% of the footage. Editing has begun on selected sequences, with the team currently seeking additional partners to complete financing and support distribution.
Produced by Alice Drago for Epica Film and Francesco Portalupi for Indyca, The Last Class is slated for delivery in early 2027. The project has also received support from the Piemonte Doc Film Fund.
For Fornasero, the story ultimately reflects a broader paradox faced by many rural communities. “For the children themselves, moving to another school will not be a tragedy – they will adapt,” he observed. “The real question is about the village. By rejecting this class, it may also be rejecting its own future.”
