Equally different is a journey into the lives of three autistic young people, who work in the innovative restaurant PizzAut, which culminates in a workshopmeeting with the students of a Sacro Cuore High school class in Modena (Italy). Gabriele is a waiter and a student of History at university, where he is having trouble with an exam; Lorenzo is a volcanic waiter who takes two hours every day to get to work by public transport and who anxiously awaits to be hired on a full-time permanent contract. Finally Andrea, who in less than a year of violin lessons has become a very good musician and will play for the first time for a special event: a wedding.
As the lives of Gabri, Lori and Andrea unfold, the Sacro Cuore High school students go on a journey of self-awareness, through Mobile-FilmMaking, and engage in a debate on equality and equity. The stories are intertwined with the classroom experience at "PizzAut" where our protagonists become special tutors to teach the waiter's job, and more.
The exchange between the food professionals and the students ends with an unexpected reversal of roles and leaves room for reflection, for a question: 'Wouldn't make more sense today to talk about the uniqueness of the individual, instead of diversity?"

Director's note

I chose to tell this story because I am the mother of dyslexic children with ADHD. I made a journey of acceptance of my and their characteristics, working on selfesteem and despite the school environment being based on a standard from which they differ, as their mother does.
This film is a positive way of telling differences for a cultural change and outlook for everyone, especially for those who still consider themselves 'normal' compared to someone else. A person should no longer be defined as 'normal/diverse' but as 'unique', with no terms of comparison against a standard. The camera becomes an observer of reality. The lens, and those behind them, become almost invisible. In this approach I was inspired by great documentary filmmakers such as Friedrick Wiseman. My intention is to tell the lives of three autistic boys by "normalizing" them, showing their everyday life but also the difficulties and satisfactions they experience, just like the boys and girls in the class, each with their own characteristics and fragilities. The observation story was enriched by the language of the young people, the more intimate, spontaneous and authentic one they use in front of the smartphone camera.
Young people, whether autistic or adolescents without any evident diversity, are all portrayed in the same way in living and facing the challenges that life puts in our path, without any paternalistic glance towards those whom society labels as 'different'. What the film wants to spread is the view that autistic people are not 'the different ones' but that we are all 'different', each of us with our own characteristics.
The beauty of following real life gave us emotionally rich endings, even in unexpected and unbelievable ways.