IL MIO CORPO

Director: Michele Pennetta

Paese: Switzerland - Italy Length: 82’

Producers: Joëlle Bertossa, Flavia Zanon, Giovanni Pompili and Silvana Bezzola Rigolini

Cinematography: Paolo Ferrari

Sound: Edgar Iacolenna
Editing: Orsola Valenti and Damian Plandolit

Sound design & mix: Riccardo Studer 

Color correction: Andrea Maguolo

A Close Up Films and Kino produzioni production with RAI Cinema and RSI Swiss Italian Television

With the support of UFC, Cinéforom, Loterie Romande and Suissimage

Distribution: Antani distribuzione with Kio Film

Visions du Réel 2020 – Compétition Internationale Longs Métrages • ACID Cannes 2020 • Make Dox 2020 - Newcomers • Annecy Cinema Italien 2020 • Encounters Documentary Film Festival 2020 • Cinemed – Festival Cinema Mediterranéen Montpellier 2020: Avant-Premières • Film Fest Gent 2020: New Voices • Busan International Film Festival 2020: Documentary Showcase • IDFA – Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2020: Best of Fest

Raffaella Fioretta Award @Alice nella Città – Rome Film Festival 2020

SYNOPSIS

In a deep and abandoned Sicily Oscar, the son of a junk dealer, and Stanley, a young immigrant, live on the margins of society. They don’t seem to have much in common. Except for the feeling of being thrown into the world, to suffer the same refusal, the same overwhelming wave of choices imposed on them by others.

Oscar and his older brother Roberto work with their father, collecting scrap metal from illegal landfills. Each metal has its own value and the Oscar family survives by transforming other people's waste into a new bargaining chip. It is a grueling job. Omar and Roberto are linked by a common story but the eldest, committed to excel to survive, escapes the role of ally, leaving Oscar alone.

For Stanley the worst seems to be behind him: a small apartment for himself, a two- year residence permit and a friend with whom to share some food and memories. He could leave Sicily and try his luck in a country that gives him a real chance, but something keeps him in this limbo.

A seasonal job takes him to the deep hinterland, in lands of old abandoned mines and pastures. In this forgotten place, between debris and scrap metal, the solitudes of Oscar and Stanley will touch for a brief moment.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

“IL MIO CORPO is the third and last part of a trilogy about illegality in today’s Sicily. The movie develops through multiple characters’ points of view and represents the attempt to unveil the state of abandon the region is facing, devastated by the pollution caused by Italian and European institutions loss of control.

Events and characters are intentionally painted in a impressionistic way. It’s not a reportage nor a documentary, so it hasn’t intended to be as an exhaustive view on a extremely complex situation. It’s like a dive into people’s lives; in reaction to State and institutions state of neglect, they found out survival methods that lie outside the System, following their own rules.

As I paint them, I refuse to judge victims and executioners. I try to emphasize the complex reality so questions about institutions’ responsibility and individual everyday-life choices could rise spontaneously. Michele Pennetta