CommuniTV Racconti

In recent months, the Covid19 pandemic has imposed on our regional territory a stop to activities to be held in presence whether they took place in open spaces or inside facilities. Until April 24, 2021 these activities have been suspended in Umbria, but the associations and recreational and cultural clubs, as well as social aggregation centers have continued to work with young people and citizens remotely, online.

The CommuniTV project went ahead with virtual laboratories, involving university students and young people with psychological disorders, heavily penalized by the isolation imposed by the pandemic.

Since most of the youth population has not yet received the first vaccination dose (at the moment the regional and national health system are proceeding with the vaccination of the 80-year-olds and the most fragile subjects) L'Officina together with Associazione RealMente gave birth to a small online writing workshop in which young with psychological disorders could anonymously talk their experience of isolation in the pandemic context in the form of a diary.

The result of the workshop was a series of short stories that take place in a dystopic future. All the characters narrated are in fact alter egos of the subjects participating in the atelieur. The shape and setting were chosen by the participants themselves: the idea of using the shape of the diary was considered the best way to talk about the adventures of of some space "travelers" who visit outer worlds struck by diseases and plagues. The idea is: each participant begins to write a diary page which then is left around to be found by another person, who in turn reads the previous page and then writes his one... In this way, through characters of fiction, each and every one was able to tell stories and facts related to the way he/she lived the lockdown, together with anxieties and fears experienced in this period.  

communitv riunione

Here are some anonymous extracts from the writing workshop.

I have been in my homeland for a long time and never expected to find deserted streets. But who are these so-called human beings? Where are they? What kind of habits do they have? I walk the streets, if we can call it that way, and the sound of my metallic footsteps echoes in my ears and I feel alone. Who lives here? I haven't seen anyone for days. It have to keep a diary (...)

Anonymous 1

The year 3979 of the ancient Christian calendar was a terribly hard year for mankind: centuries after the universal deluge of fire, the last fertile men were dying, giving way to the "abominations of the core", beings similar to kangaroos, born from a genetic disease. This is my story, of those days when the old man had his days numbered and I, a priest of the mechanical god, not human but not even mutant, saw the definitive end of mankind (...)

Anonymous 2


I live in a glass fortress. I'm safe, but chaos is rampant outside. The king says: All together we can make it. All together. But together with whom? I thought I could look out from the balcony but there isn't even a single person singing. No one. Such a shame. (...)

Anonymous 3

communitv-l'officina

The pages of the diaries will be recorded in an audio podcast, as soon as it will be possible to interact and work again in presence, and will subsequently be broadcast on the radio network Larghe Vedute, the first radio network that involves people suffering from mental disorders in its programming, to promote their integration and social inclusion. Boys and girls with psychic disorders become protagonists in front of the microphone. In this way we intend to put young people with mental disorders at the center and spread a culture based on the restoration of dignity and rights, opposing the stereotypes and stigma that surround psychic distress.