As a teenager, he trained in oil on canvas, graduated in sculpture from the Art Institute of Rome, and studied music and clarinet at the same time. An artist, you might say, but he has the same weight of interest in the technical field, so he went on to study electronics. "I'm a bit reluctant to say this, because people think I'm completely distracted. That I don't even know what I want to do. But it's not like that - I'm just interested in a lot of things," he comments on his versatility.

From 1973 he worked in the cinema as a set sculptor, and in 1982 he started to create special effects (animals, monsters, miniatures, etc.) for hundreds of films. He even worked with Darius Argento, the king of horror in the 70s and 80s, and James Cameron for his first film "Pirania".

Special effects worked at a time when most people had never even heard the term. It was only with the E.T. and Star Wars films that understanding of it slowly spread. Alvar's animations were remarkable for the time! How could he have so much knowledge at a time when there were no schools of this kind, YouTube did not exist and the internet was not even well developed?

"By trying. By failing. You know what you want to achieve, but you don't know how. So you try and try until you succeed." Every day, she learns new skills, which she selflessly shares through Youtube channel. Why? "When I was young, it would have meant a lot to me if someone had been able to tell me ..."

On one of the shoots, they needed footage of a house explosion. He built a 1:10 scale model of a beautiful house made of wood, with every brick on the roof artistically finished. Whereupon he sees the cameraman start filming. "It won't be good if you use a telephoto lens and film from ten metres away," he quickly warned. "It will work well if you take a fisheye lens and position the camera closer and slightly from bottom to top..." The cameraman did not listen. 

When the projection room looked at the footage, all they could hear was Alvarov: "See, I told you it wouldn't be good." He bought cameras and laboratories with a projection room, an art workshop, a separate room for mechanical and electronics development, another for woodworking, and two scaffoldings so that he could film these scenes himself.

The end of the 20th century was a turning point in many respects. The development of computers made it possible to create special effects purely virtually, the internet spread around the world and cinema began to lose its power. The horror-crazed Japanese commissioned low-budget films. He made it and negotiated a 7-year licence fee, allowing him to sell the same film to 25 other countries around the world, always for seven years. He has built a business model that brings him a steady income. So he is no stranger to the business side.

But he was increasingly drawn to the development of mechanics for robots, for performances.  

When you combine the knowledge of art, technology, electronics, music and animation, and add to all this an endless passion for creation, the result is Animal Orchestra.

My wife commented, "If you make an accordion-playing monkey, why not a cleaning monkey?" Clever wife ... 

He visited the City of Acrobats environment during the Dewesoft Summer Camp, where students were developing robots and he helped them with his expertise. "Take the materials to make what you want to create in the physical world and model the mechanics," he said. "Make it out of plasticine, cardboard or other materials, then combine all the mechanics. When you build things physically like that, it becomes crystal clear how it works. Only then does it make sense to draw it all on a computer screen."  

He continues: "Young people today do everything directly on the screen. This is not good. When you physically assemble a product, you get to know every detail in detail, which you can't do just on the screen." For fun and curiosity, for example, he built seven different types of CNC machines himself, the last being a four-axis CNC which he later sold. Why? "You really learn a lot when you build a machine like that yourself..."

Would you say you are a perfectionist? "Absolutely!"

Alvar's career has been marked by a constant stream of seemingly impossible challenges and problems to solve. When we talk about Acrobats, we mean people like Alvaro. His passion for creation is inexhaustible. His curiosity for new knowledge is unstoppable. He has a passion inside him that is hard to describe. He just knows that he enjoys his work immensely. "My wife even claims that sometimes I turn over in my sleep and mumble as if I am thinking and drawing. I guess it's true."

Even today, Alvaro works on average about 12 hours a day, comes home, eats dinner and then spends another five to six hours studying and exploring new areas.

He is 74 years old, by the way.

How do you find such a passion for creation? "I don't know... I was born this way." He pauses for a moment and then adds, "Your President," that is Jure Knez, "I think he understands."

In his modesty, he blushes when Jure says to him: "You are the best in the world at this kind of animation." He replies, "I'm just a little man ..." 

Alvaro, you are a true inspiration to us!

You can find out more about Alvar and his work on his website www.alvaropasseri.it

Some of his works: 

• American film production: The Tentacles, The Dolls, Caligula, The Day Christ Died, Scared to Death, Starcrash, Once Upon a Time in America, The Gold Crew
• Italian film production: hundreds of films, including the Oscar-winning "New Cinema Paradise"
• As director: Things from the Abyss (1994), Fantastic Games (1998), The Mummy Theme Park (2000), Flight to Hell (2003), Psychovision (2004)