become captivated by the local cinema in his small, native Sicilian Village. He misses his father, who becomes a World War II victim, and through guile and a high interest level, convinces the cinema projectionist Alfredo (Philippe Noiret) to mentor him.
There are three “Totos” in the filmthe younger (Salvatore Cascio), the teenager (Marco Leonardi) and the adult (Jacques Perrin). Perrin is a real-life film producer. Cascio steals every scene he is in with his incredible facial expressions, inquisitive mind and indomitable determination to learn how to be a projectionist.
Along the way, he gets into a lot of trouble. He loses his mother’s trust by spending money he is given to buy bread for the family on an admission fee to see a film at the theater. He cons Alfredo the projectionist into giving him some film that causes a fire in his home and