Exclusive: view the trailer of 99 Amaranto, the documentary about Cristiano Lucarelli and Livorno.
Twenty years later. Cristiano Lucarelli was one of those Shangai children. And now he is a well-paid “serie A” football player. He chooses to refuse a millionaire contract with a big team to finally come back and play for Livorno, in that football ground located just a few miles away from his old neighbourhood. [read more]
A production by L'Occhio e La Luna. "99 Amaranto" is a documentary film based on the book "Tenetevi il miliardo", written by Carlo Pallavicino. [read more]
"The History of Football is like a sad journey from pleasure to duty. The more the sport became an industry, the more it lost its beauty: playing simply to play the game. Luckily, and rarely, there is some dirty-faced , cheeky boy, who strikes a discordant note, playing for the pleasure of kicking the ball into the net, and runs and rushes into the forbidden adventure of freedom."
"Some football players pay half a million for a Ferrari or a Yacht, with that money I bought myself Livorno’s shirt. That’s all."
Cristiano Lucarelli’s story, a football player who departs from the norm, at the apex of his career he decided to refuse a billion lira engagement and a safe future, and chose to play for his home town team, Livorno, aiming to bring it back to the serie A after a 55 years long absence. Seventy-two goals, and a working class city peculiar for its anarchic nature that affects all the characters of this love story, who back Cristiano’s choice to stake everything on a number: Livorno's 99…rien ne va plus…
Dal 13 luglio, davanti allo stupore di molti e dopo quattro anni eccezionali, Cristiano Lucarelli non è più un calciatore del Livorno: un taglio netto, i titoli di coda su una storia che rimane così fissata nel suo splendore e legata ad un periodo- le BAL, la politica in curva- che (complice anche il decreto Amato) appartiene al passato. 99 Amaranto diventa così un film documentario che racconta una storia compiuta e che sembra sempre di più uscita dalla penna di un immaginifico scrittore sudamericano.
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