data sheet
A documentary by Raffaele Manco e Vittorio Martone
Cinematography and Editing Raffaele Manco
Production Vittorio Martone
A Production by Regione Emilia-Romagna e Lepida TV
“I think I am very far from a way of life that I would like.”
—Ayrton Senna
These words of Ayrton Senna are engraved at the base of the monument dedicated to him that is located in Imola behind the Tamburello curve, where he lost his life on May 1, 1994 at the age of 34. They were chosen by the artist Stefano Pierotti who decided to portray Ayrton sitting on a wall, legs crossed and head down. An iconic pose seen in many photographs and which reflects the soul of that young, handsome man, a fierce winner but who was well aware of his own shadows and showed them without fear. This made him human and very close to all those who supported him and even those who did not follow the world of racing. Senna for many was a conduit with the feeling of life, their emotions, an apostle for our souls.
The documentary in short form tries to tell this feeling, the portrait of Ayrton Senna comes out by reflection from the testimonies of those who knew him like the journalist Giorgio Terruzzi who takes us into Suite 200 (which also gives the title to his book) of the Hotel Castello in Castel San Pietro – Imola, where Senna spent his last night. A room kept as then by Luisa Tosoni, owner of the hotel who for years hosted Ayrton always in the same room, which is still visited today by many people as a sort of pilgrimage not only for the Myth of racing, but for Senna the Man, in a sort of reconciliation with themselves and their emotions.
Those same emotions that greet his monument, years of messages on pieces of paper, photographs, flags blown by the wind and left by thousands of people over the course of 31 years since that May 1994. The voices in different languages in the background and the sunlight that like a blanket envelops the statue and all of us. Because the purpose of this project is us. It talks about Ayrton Senna Da Silva, the greatest driver of all time, but it talks about all of us, about our lives. Intense, interrupted, broken by events. Shadows that we carry inside us and that make us similar to him, “a lonely man and for this reason still ready to keep us company”.