Three generations of old fisherman Ernesto’s family live on an island where tourism has replaced the fishing industry. One day an African woman named Sara unexpectedly washes up on shore. According to the authorities, the family must report her, but Sara is expecting a baby. Should she be seen as an alien or as a human being?
The inhabitants of the small island where old Ernesto Pacillo lives with his son’s widow and his grandson can no longer make their living catching fish. The younger generation is betting on tourism but not everyone has business acumen. Giulietta, Ernesto’s daughter-in-law, takes care of the family in the hope that her son Filippo will find the courage to leave. When one day a group of shipwrecked Africans washes up on shore, the family finds itself forced to make a choice. The authorities demand, under penalty, that every illegal immigrant be reported, but Sara, who is taking refuge with the Pacillo family, is about to give birth. The two women, Giulietta and the foreigner Sara, are united by the same desire: to make a better future for their children. The shooting location draws parallels with Visconti’s famed work La terra trema. But the social motivations, while still present, have been replaced (in a poetic, almost fairytale mood) by the current issue of our approach to "strangers”: should they be viewed as unwelcome aliens or as human beings?
88 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Emanuele Crialese
/ Screenplay Emanuele Crialese, Vittorio Moroni
/ Dir. of Photography Fabio Cianchetti
/ Music Franco Piersanti
/ Editor Simona Paggi
/ Producer Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz
/ Production Cattleya
/ Cast Filippo Pucillo, Donatella Finocchiaro, Mimmo Cuticchio, Giuseppe Fiorello
/ Contact Elle Driver
Emanuele Crialese (b. 1965, Rome) moved to the US in 1991 to study direction at New York University. Following the short film Heartless (1994) he went on to shoot his feature debut Once We Were Strangers (1997), which was presented at Sundance. In 1999 he cooperated on a project involving Ellis Island. In 2002 his next feature, Respiro, won Cannes’ Critics’ Week; the film, which screened at KVIFF 2003, was then picked up by more than 30 countries. In 2007 Crialese once again represented the Italian film industry at Karlovy Vary with Nuovomondo (2006, Horizons section), honored at Venice with a Silver Lion: Revelation award.
Elle Driver
44, Rue Blanche, 750 09, Paris
France
Phone: +33 156 434 870
Fax: +33 145 614 608
E-mail: [email protected]
Filippo Pucillo
Actor
Severine Garusso
Sales Agent
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