The Island of Stories. A Journey to Sardinia

The synergy between TBA21–Academy and Fondazione Sardegna Film Commission is renewed with this evening of screenings at Ocean Space, proposing a journey to Sardinia through a selection of short films and audio documentaries made on the island in recent years. The authors’ gazes build a choral narrative that rejects stereotypes, giving space to stories deeply rooted in communities' lives.

Filmmakers Vittoria Soddu and Giorgia Cadeddu (Studiolanda) and Francesco Piras will be present for a final Q&A.

• "Iolanda mi nant de nomini", audio-documentary by Vittoria Soddu and Giorgia Cadeddu, 2021 (30')

Orlanda Sassu, poet and ecologist from Guspini (1924-2015) carried on a lifelong practice of audio recording to archive the memory of her country and the language she feared to lose. Her voice crosses the barriers of time and accompanies us to the pivotal places of her existence: the river, the village, the sea, the hut built around a centuries-old juniper tree on the dunes in Pistis, together with her partner Efisio, a poet himself. Iolanda, thus known to the community, has given the magnetic tapes of audiocassettes the power to make her travel through time, go back through memories of the past, and challenge the possibility of existing in the future, coming down to us as a living, present voice.

• "A casa mia" by Mario Piredda, 2016 (20')

In an uninhabited fishing village, Lucia, an elderly widow, after years still lives in mourning according to Sardinian tradition: she always wears black and a headscarf on her head, and every day at the cemetery she takes care of her husband's grave. Peppino, a fisherman friend of her age, is the only other inhabitant, and every day on the beach he takes care of his boat, although he no longer uses it. Lucia and Peppino keep each other company during the long winter evenings. What unites them is not only loneliness, but a love never confessed, hidden from the world and from themselves. Time passes slowly, the mistral blows sand through the deserted alleys of the village, and the saltiness corrodes the walls of the houses. Then Lucia receives a visit from her daughter, with her son-in-law and grandson: she would like her mother to move in and rent her apartment to tourists in the summer and thus solve their economic problems. Lucia is upset: the idea of leaving her home, her life, saddens her, and even more so the idea of leaving Peppino alone, of being without Peppino. But her daughter insists, and Lucia must make a decision.

• "Mammarranca" by Francesco Piras, 2021 (15') - with the presence of the director

Giovanni and Michele are eleven and nine years old and they live in Sant’Elia, a popular neighborhood on the outskirt of Cagliari. The lives of the two children suddenly seem to change when a scratch card ends up in their hands.

The Sardinia Film Commission deals with the development of the audiovisual supply chain in Sardinia and accompanies creatives in the exploration of the island, to discover places and people, the tangible and intangible heritage of the island, always with a vision of environmental and social sustainability.

STUDIOLANDA is a multidisciplinary studio founded by Vittoria Soddu and Giorgia Cadeddu. Coming from design and the visual arts, they focus their projects on re-use practices with a specific interest in audiovisual, graphic and textual archives. They strive to imagine narrative forms that exceed the rigidity of recognisable categories, combining apparently distant practices of drawing, translation, self-construction and listening. Their first audio documentary “Iolanda mi nant de nómini” received the mentorship and co-production grant YASS! from Radio Papesse. After the premiere held at Lucia Festival, it was broadcasted on Rai Radio 3 within the programme Zazà Meridione-cultura-società. It was selected to be included in the International Feature Conference (Cardiff), and in the documentary competition at Prix Europa (Potsdam) and Phonurgia Nova (Paris).

Francesco Piras (1978) is a director, cinematographer and photographer. He directed the photography of numerous short films, documentaries and features including Bentu, by Salvatore Mereu in competition af the Giornate degli Autori 2022 Venice. He directed the short film Il nostro Concerto, which received national and international recognition including the nomination for the David di Donatello Award in 2019. In 202 he wrote and directed the short film Mammarranca, officially selected at the Nastra d’Argento 2023 and winner of the Rai Cinema Channel award. Grasshoppers, his most recenet short film, has its world premiere at SIC@SIC - Venice Settimana Internazionale della Critica 2023.