Play Blog

Here’s another shortlisted film from the amatuer category of the ‘Digital Revolutions’ short film competition. (For more details on the competition, please see a previous blog: http://blogs.skype.com/play/2010/10/enter-the-digital-revolutions.html)

Please see the film below directed and edited by Mirko Pincelli. As well as the blog post written by Enrico Tessarin and Louise Dylan. We hope you enjoy it.

I grew up in a small village in Italy, so small in fact that I’ve renamed it ‘village near Torino’ because otherwise no one has a clue where I’m from. My mum and dad come from the old generation that are very comfortable utilising their agricultural skills but they still don’t know how to use a remote control. One thing that I had never managed to do was to convince my now ageing parents to buy a computer and be visible to me in London via Skype. They were constantly telling me about their illnesses on the phone but I couldn’t see them – and it was fairly frustrating at times. How was I ever going to convince my stubborn parents to get a computer? All there was left to do was show to them.

When my daughter was born two years ago I went to the hospital with my laptop and an Internet dongle. My daughter was three hours old when I connected to the Internet from the hospital and my best friend went to pick up my mum from her house and took her to his internet-ready apartment. She saw her one and only, just born granddaughter for the very first time via Skype. I don’t think either myself or my mum will ever forget that moment and that picture which showed us more than words could ever describe.

The very next day my mum called me on the telephone to ask how she could get a computer. I got that computer to her within a week and we have been happily Skyping ever since. We have spent two wonderful years seeing each other whenever we feel like it. I’ve been able to see my mum and dad’s faces when they weren’t feeling well. Most importantly my mum and dad have been able to witness my daughter growing from a tiny little baby into a boisterous toddler and haven’t missed any of the big steps. One word she learnt very quickly was ‘Nonna’ which means grandmother in Italian. She learnt that word through Skype and it’s now one of her favourite and most constant words. These days we Skype twice a week. Since that day my mum has been the most earnest advocate of ‘how easy it is to use Skype.’