We are all suffering! Personal, professional, and financial problems, conflicts, toxic relationships, unhappiness, a sense of inadequacy, fear, anxiety, stress. We are never enough; we think we will be happy only when we have everything we want, exactly how we want it, and always more and better than others. Other people's judgments, self-esteem, performance, mistakes... so much pressure. So much suffering and distress. We endure, but we feel crushed by the rock we push up the hill. We ask for help, and if we are lucky, we manage to find some moments of relief. Then it ends, and it starts all over again.
It was August 2025, during the summer holidays in a Tuscan farmhouse nestled among fields, woods, and small lakes. The scorching heat numbed all physical activity. I was recovering from a severe, months-long depression caused by work burnout. Sitting on a sofa under a patio, I was reading the book "Light as the Sky, Deep as the Sea" by Gianluca Gotto, a gift of love from my wife and daughter. I closed the book. My mind was quiet: too hot to think. The landscape filled my entire gaze. An empty mind and a gaze lost on the horizon. A moment of peace and serenity rare to find.
There, in that eternal instant, experienced as if in slow motion, a feeling emerged, an intuition as luminous as it was true: I was in the here and now, I was connected to everything, and there was no suffering: "The ego is separation. The ego is the root of all suffering". I lingered in that sense of truth that transcends reasoning.
Slowly, I returned to the world of the senses. I made a note of this intuition: "research the ego". I also picked up my phone and immediately did a web search. Right away, I found an interesting book: "Ego Is the Enemy" by Ryan Holiday. I also found other sources, but they were always fragmented, insufficient to satisfy all my questions. After everything I had read, heard, seen, and learned, I knew that the ego was a constant riverbank upon which the waters of teachings, reasoning, or inquiries from philosophy, psychology, personal growth, and spirituality always leaned. Yet, in my knowledge, an overarching and interdisciplinary work was missing—one that could connect all the dots for a holistic vision.
What is the ego? What is its function? How is it born and how does it develop? Why does it make us suffer? How can we overcome it? These were the questions that demanded an answer. I read that the ego created separation. My consciousness told me it was more than just that: the ego is "me against you", and also "I am better and more important than others". The ego is "I want or I don't want it to be this way" and "this is mine". The ego is also "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" and finally "if I offer you something, you must give back to me". The ego is the root of comparisons, conflicts, stress, expectations, performance anxiety, and painful emotions.
A thorough and integrated investigation was urgent and necessary. First of all, I would read the book I found, of course, but then what? Speaking with Masters, with guides — that is what I needed to do. As the thought took shape, a feeling that had remained in the background of my entire life emerged, one that I only recognize today as an inner beacon: compassion. I said to myself: "If I manage to gather important teachings that help me overcome the limits imposed by the ego and become more serene, calm, and happy, I want and must share it with the world. Helping others overcome suffering, leaving a document to the world that can assist those in physical, psychological, or spiritual suffering makes me feel filled with gratitude. I desire with all my heart for this to be my legacy. I love all living beings and I feel I want help all of us to suffer no more". A deep emotion washed over me: "Now I know why I am here. Now I know the reason for all of this".
The simplest thing would have been to do research online, gather information, structure it into a self-help book, and, with a bit of luck, publish it. However, we know people read less and less, and there are always too many books. An inspiration struck me.
I have always loved cinema. I love movies, nature documentaries, uplifting stories of transformation, personal growth and discovery, and everything related to spirituality. The idea that emerged on that "mystical" day in August 2025 was now becoming as clear and simple as a mountain stream: I would make a documentary featuring interviews on the search for the path to overcoming the ego, and I would offer it to the whole world.
However, a documentary consisting solely of interviews with spiritual guides might be difficult to digest, even if divided into a docu-series. I wanted the viewer to be able to identify with it, finding their own torments and feelings on the screen, but also with a touch of childlike lightness. Another sudden idea: I will include cartoons. How I love them. Initially, I thought of a deeply poetic language like the traditional animation of Master Hayao Miyazaki; from this suggestion, the idea later emerged to use an interesting animation technique within the project's reach: rotoscoping.
The scenes in rotoscope technique will be created through theater, which is already in itself a wonderful metaphor for the stage of life, where we act out roles with masks. The idea emerged from the creative team; I liked it immediately, and it still makes me dream.
Thanks to continuous discussions during the writing process, the project finally began to take shape with narrative elements of absolute artistic significance: theatrical scenes to tell stories of daily suffering, cartoons to lighten the narration, and interviews with Masters and Spiritual Guides to provide inspiration. Cinema, what magic.
The final creative element is the soundtrack, which is currently under development: we have many wonderful ideas and are selecting sounds that can accompany the viewer on this deep and meaningful journey.
Beyond every difficulty, beyond time, beyond effort, beyond expenses, this project is beautiful just to think about, and it gives meaning to my daily life. I am grateful for all of this.
Qui sotto ci sono le persone meravigliose con cui ho l'onore di creare quest'opera e fare questo viaggio alla scoperta di noi stessi. Siamo arrivati in questo progetto carichi di ego e sento che sta "cedendo" man mano che procediamo. Nella fase di sviluppo, l'incontro e il dialogo con due diversi registi ha svelato una affinità inaspettata. Invece di scegliere l'uno o l'altro, abbiamo capito che unire le loro visioni avrebbe arricchito profondamente l'opera. Hanno accettato con entusiasmo la sfida, ed ecco la squadra che costituisce il cuore di questo viaggio:
Director, co-author, and co-producer of "The Shadow of the Ego" project.
Milan-born, creates documentaries, short films, music videos, and new media content. He recently directed the docu-series PAN.
Producer and co-author of "The Shadow of the Ego" project.
Naples born-Brianza man, IT engineer, manager, Taiji Quan practitioner and teacher, mental coach, and an incurable curious and spiritual seeker, lover of cinema and cartoons from the 70s and 80s.
Director, co-author, and co-producer of "The Shadow of the Ego" project.
Director, filmmaker, and founder of Frame Factory Milano, he tells authentic stories through audiovisual language, such as documentaries, exploring social, cultural, and human themes with a keen eye on reality and the people who live it.
What a difficult mission it is to choose among the many Guides and Masters who have so much to tell and teach, helping us emerge from the mud and bloom like the lotus flower on the surface of a crystal-clear lake. These Souls are a great daily inspiration and can offer us important perspectives to understand the ego and embark on a path of inner liberation. They believed in the project, and for this, I am grateful first of all to Them, and I am grateful to what exists beyond the ego, beyond separation (God, the Universe, the Tao, the Great Spirit, the Great Mother, or whatever one prefers) for making this journey possible.
With love and gratitude: thank you all for your yes.
✅Interviewed on 18/05/2026
Buddhist master and international spiritual guide, holder of the NgalSo lineage and promoter of a culture of peace.
✅Interviewed on 7/06/2026
Teacher and spiritual guide, author, and founder of Scuola Non Scuola, dedicated to inner research and deep meditation.
✅Interviewed on 20/06/2026
Artist, musician, Master of Kung Fu, TaiJi Quan, Shou Bo, and meditation, and promoter of Chinese culture.
✅Interviewed on 8/06/2026
Clinical psychologist, psychotherapist expert in mindfulness, hypnosis, and bodily techniques for psycho-emotional well-being.
✔️Interview planned on 6/10/2026
Sōtō Zen Master, founder, abbess, and spiritual guide of the Shinnyoji Temple in Florence, and official missionary for Europe.
✔️Interview planned on 4/08/2026
Capuchin friar, essayist, and meditation master, pioneer of the path of silence and deep awareness.
Our goals include the aspiration to host these extraordinary communicators examples, and individuals. We are actively working to contact them and involve them in this profound journey of self-discovery.
Our hope is to interview this great spirit guide.
Our hope is to interview this great actor and example of humility.
Our hope is to interview this great actor and spiritual seeker.
If you want to participate, support us, or simply follow us, stay in touch with us.
We will soon launch a fundraising campaign to create this unique and important work with greater resources. We will update you on the project's progress, and you will have exclusive access to unreleased and full-length preview content.
The project consists of several phases:
October 2025 - May 2026
writing of the narrative framework and essential scenes.
Definition of speakers and guides to be interviewed.
June 2026 - December 2026
recording of interviews.
recording of theater scenes.
voice-over recording.
soundtrack production.
January 2027 - May 2027
editing.
assembly.
June 2027 - ...
festival submission.
distribution to movie theaters
distribution to major media.
