I MAGI RANDAGI is the story of three tightrope walkers, a Frenchman, an Italian, and a German who travel through Italy. They used to belong to a circus, now disbanded, a victim of our times like so many things which have a poetry all of their own. The three tightrope walkers have few props and no animals. Nevertheless, their performances are extraordinary. Their disguises awaken the real beasts who walk the earth: terrible animals, bloodthirsty, without mercy like mafia killers and Nazis. Isn't man himself the best example of a wild beast today? Not everyone understands this allegory. Their audiences regularly become impatient, their performances have to be interrupted. Very often the three tightrope walkers have to leave town on the double.

Their journey seems funny to us but not to them. They are hired by a village priest to perform as the Three Holy Men in a traditional live Christmas scene. The Frenchman plays Balthasar, the German is Kaspar, the Italian Melchior. But why is baby Jesus a porcelain doll? The question is easily answered: there are no babies in this town. Children are too much work, they are loud, dirty and expensive. When in doubt it is better to buy a new car than to have a new child - that's how people think in this village. After their performance the three tightrope walkers spend the night in the barn. Before they fall asleep, a beautiful comet appears in the sky. All three have seen the comet but each of them pretends not to have noticed. Perhaps it was just an illusion. Perhaps each one thinks he is the chosen one. Finally, they leave the barn one by one, secretly, in order to follow the star. They criss-cross the country until they meet again, understanding that they are indeed the chosen ones, that they have to find the Messiah who will end all injustice in the world. Is it reality or a dream? One never knows - but we can't live without dreams...

Sergio Citti is Pier Paolo Pasolini's pupil but also his teacher. He is mostly known as his pupil. For many years Sergio Citti has been considered the only successor to Pasolini.

Why, then, his teacher? It is little known that Accattone, the first legendary film by Pasolini, was based on an idea, rather a dream of Sergio Citti. What is well-known by now is the fact that Citti introduced Pasolini to the world of the Roman subproletariat, the most important source of inspiration for the great poet.

For many years, Italian producers have tried to convince Citti to realize some of the unfinished projects of Pasolini. So far he always refused. Sergio Citti was a respected script writer long before Pasolini's tragic death. He has been making his own films for more than twenty years, always authentic, always poetic, always modest. Many of the most important international film stars have appeared in his seven feature films, such as Jodie Foster, Catherine Deneuve, Michele Placido and Ugo Tognazzi in Cassotto, Vittorio Gassman and Philippe Noiret in Due pezzi di pane, Roberto Benigni in Il Minestrone and Malcolm McDowell and Gassman again in Mortacci.

This preliminary remark is important considering the fact that Citti's I MAGI RANDAGI was a Pasolini project. Citti's I MAGI RANDAGI, however, has little to do with Pornoteokolossal, the film Pasolini was working on when he died so tragically on November 2nd, 1975. Sergio Citti has modernized and condensed the narrative. The two projects have little in common now except the basic film idea.

Citti remains loyal to his unforgettable teacher with this film, this homage while also remaining true to his own cinema.

Sergio Citto was born in 1933 in Rome. In 1951 he met and befriended the writer Pier Paolo Pasolini who called him his ,linguistic adviser'. Pasolini asked for his help for his books, the novels ,Ragazzi di vita' (1955), ,Una vita violenta' (1959), the narration ,Ali dagli occhi azzurri' (1965) - and the first cooperation on scripts (‘Le notte di Cabiria', 1956, and ,La dolce vita', 1959). From 1959 he was increasingly involved in Pasolini's scripts, even though he also worked in other professions until 1960. His name doesn't appear in all the film credits, partly because of decisions taken by producers, sometimes for personal reasons, like in Ragazzo di borgata by Giulio Paradisi (1976).

1971: Ostia (Forum 1971). 1973: Storie scellerate. 1977: Casotto. 1979: Due pezzi di pane. 1981: Il minestrone. 1985: Sogni e Bisogni. 1987: Violenza negli stadi (TV-Kurzfilm); La maternità (TV-Kurzfilm); La communicazione (TV-Kurzfilm); L'orgasmo (TV-Kurzfilm. 1989: Mortacci. 1996: I MAGI RANDAGI.