Charly, a pompous show-horse, is kidnapped at the famous horse fair of Città di Castello. Bartolo, our hero’s owner, immediately leaps into action as he sets off to get him back. Along with four brave companions, he must take great risks and ride across Italy from Ischia to the misty Po Valley for a final showdown with the kidnappers.
Documentary // Real interviews combined with AI video // 90 minutes
Artificial Intelligence and Interviews
Stolen Stallion combines two interwoven visual layers.
The first consists of real interviews with more than ten protagonists — people who truly experienced the events surrounding Charly's disappearance: eyewitnesses, investigators, and those who personally knew the smallest horse in the world. These authentic voices form the documentary foundation of the film.
The second layer features AI-generated B-roll sequences that visually recreate and interpret key moments of the story — from Charly's peaceful life on Ischia to the drama of his abduction and his spectacular return.
Charly’s narrator voice — calm, ironic, and reflective — connects both worlds. In the interplay between real testimonies and AI-crafted imagery, the film unfolds as an engaging and colorful reconstruction of a true story.
Two years of working with AI image and video tools — and more than thirty test films later — the technology is now, Winter 2025, advanced enough to start developing the B-roll sequences for Stolen Stallion.
Based on a real Pony!
In 2013 at the traditional horse fair "Mostra del Cavallo di Città di Castello", the smallest horse in the world disappears without a trace. According to the "Guiness Book of World Records" Charly is only 63 cm tall. For the horse trainer Bartolo Messina and his family, the disappearance of the beloved horse was a heavy blow emotionally and financially. As a part of various horse shows Charly was an important family member and source of income.
Soon it transpires Charly’s disappearance is a kidnapping. ‘Gypsies’ demand a €10,000 ransom and threaten to send Charly’s ear in an envelope to the owners.
Only after a long odyssey across Italy, bugging by the Carabinieri, false suspicion and a supposed handover of €4,500 will the Pony return to Ischia.
The story brought Charly and his owner international attention and fame. Papers like The New York Post and Le Monde reported on the case and its curious protagonist.
When the horse returned to the farm - and celebrations - Charly was well fed, groomed, and even had the opportunity to mate. From Charly's perspective, the tale definitely has a happy ending.
While Charly tells us about this wild story, we meet people who were involved, know Charly or helped untangle this wild mess.
A funny documentary about the most beautiful country in the world, Italy. Loving, but also one that sees the absurdity, drama, and a country that goes round in circles.
PROTAGONISTS
Bartolo: 43 years old, horse whisperer, guardian of Charly. Ready to give everything for him.
Pepe: 43 years old, Bartolo's best friend. Pepe accompanied Bartolo on the journey through Italy.
Nico Belloni: 42 years old. Operator of the horse fair in Città di Castello. Nico still gets goosebumps when he tells the story!
Ernesto: 60 years old, once an important figure with the Carabinieri of Città di Castello.
Barbetta: 60 years old, horse dealer from the Città di Castello area. Has a bad reputation.
Braidic: Wears a mask on camera and says he is the man who brought Charly in a Audi to Northern Italy. What happened on the way?
Luciano: 38 years old, Bartolo's brother. Luciano was with him the night Charly was abducted. It was Luciano who found the hole in the fence!
Gennaro: 50 years old. Journalist from Ischia TV.
Fabio: 35 years old. Ernesto's son and a good friend of Nico. His father Ernesto was in charge of this trip to find Charly.
Colonnello Angioni: What does he, on duty at the time, remember about this story?
Charly: Smallest horse in the world (2013 -2016). His German upbringing makes him dutiful and modest - but many years in Italy have left their mark.
CHARLy speaks
Charly, with the support of AI image generation, revisits the places where his story unfolded. His tone recalls the cowboy narrator from The Big Lebowski — only with a German accent.
The smallest horse in the world tells us the story of his abduction and liberation. Even though he’s told it a hundred times, it’s always amazing. So listen closely…
"I was kidnapped, held hostage, pursued, and finally I released myself from the hands of a dangerous gang.”
Charly comments in his serene way on the protagonists of our film, the Italians. The warm family people, the happy adventurers and the romanticists. The chaotic, ignorant, traditionalists and optimists. The anarchists and the aesthetes.
Charly's voice is that of an older gentleman, confident and expressive. Sometimes speaking in over-complicated sentences Charly wants you to think he is an academic. But he is also a show horse with years of professional experience and knows what audiences want to see: a stallion on a mission!
Director’s Note
I lived in Italy for the first ten years of my life and remain closely connected to the country, both privately and as an artist. My parents and other Germans of the same generation, who started an alternative life in Italy in the 1980s, are to some extent the inspiration for Charly’s fairytale.
The wild story of Charly’s kidnapping provides the framework for an entertaining film about Italy – told from a half-German perspective. The events of 2013 are presented without much detour, allowing us to get to know our protagonists along the way.
The personal statements, unexpected twists, stunning locations, the narrator’s voice and the re-enacted AI scenes combine to a comedy for pony and Italy lovers — in other words, for everyone.
Individual scenes are adapted to support the narrative flow – so it’s not so much a factual retelling of the kidnapping story, but an entertaining story.
Gregor Hutz / 2025
Gregor Hutz // D-10245 Berlin // www.gregor-hutz.de
V.3 / November 2025