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- Labirinti
- Sugar Island
- Alma del Desierto
LABIRINTI
Venice Days – Confrontations
world premiere
Italy, 2024. Directed by Giulio Donato. Starring Francesco Grillo, Simone Iorgi, Stella Mastrantonio, Davide Fasano, Antonio Gerardi, Finn Ronsdorf. Running time 1h 17′.
After the meeting on 30 August and before the one scheduled in Rome, the Venice Days debate (at the new Confronti space) on the condition and recognition, often not easy, of new filmmakers continues with the screening of Labirinti (6 pm in the Sala Laguna), the first feature by Giulio Donato. The protagonist is Francesco, an introverted young man from a mountain village in Calabria. An encounter with a book changes the boy’s life, and to pursue his dream, he will go against the ‘labyrinthine’ rules of society and his best friend, Mimmo.
‘My intention,” said the director,’ was to start ‘om the real and create by filming something new. I decided to position the story somewhere between reality and fiction, maintaining this approach in all aspects of the film‘.
Emanuele Bucci
ALMA DEL DESIERTO (SOUL OF THE DESERT)
Alma del desierto
Colombia/Brasile, 2024. Regia Mónica Taboada-Tapia. Interpreti Georgina Epiayu, María Santa Pushaina Pushaina, Antonio Ipuana, Francisco ‘Jesús’ Urrariyu, Florentina Vanegas, Yesid de Jesus Bouriyu. Durata 87′
Colombiana, di Cartagena, Monica Taboada-Tapia è dovuta tornare alle proprie origini per trovare lo spunto del film che presenta alle Giornate degli Autori. Il suo ultimo Alma del Desierto ci porta infatti negli aridi paesaggi di La Guajira, dove Georgina, un’anziana donna Wayúu transgender, si mette in viaggio per rivedere i fratelli prima che sia troppo tardi. “Scoprire il passato della famiglia di mia madre a La Guajira è stata la motivazione iniziale” dice la regista di quella che viene presentata come una storia di resistenza e un’appassionata lotta per la giustizia. “Una storia proibita che non doveva essere narrata” e nella quale mostrare una “Colombia post-coloniale, dominata da sistemi feroci” dove la solidarietà tra persone di diverse etnie diventa “un atto di pura resistenza e ribellione contro un sistema politico che continua a opprimerci per rimanere al potere”.
Mattia Pasquini
SUGAR ISLAND
Dominican Republic, Spain. 2024. Directed by Johanné Gómez Terrero. Starring Yelidá Díaz,Ruth Emeterio, Juan María Almonte, Génesis Piñeyro, Diógenes Medina. Running time91‘.
After the documentaries Bajo las carpas (2014) and Caribbean Fantasy (2016), Dominican producer, screenwriter and director Johanné Gómez Terrero makes her fiction film debut with Sugar Island, where she analyses the colonial roots of the sugar industry and the enduring role of spirituality in liberation movements. Thirteen-year-old Makenya (Yelidá Díaz) lives in a Batey village on a sugar cane plantation. An unwanted pregnancy forces her to face adulthood. Her mother is influenced by traditional spirits called Mysteries, and her grandfather fights for social security rights. Industrial automation puts them at risk of being displaced without compensation when a snake representing the Mysteries induces Makenya to embrace earthly power and the supernatural dimension, pushing her into the realm of the impossible.
Oscar Cosulich
