Synopsis

Two young girls, a hot, stifling summer, the desire to run away from a small provincial town. Luisa is full of life, uninhibited, unconventional. Renata is dark, angry and in need of love. The lives of two young women is a tale of blackmail, of a love betrayed, of violence: Luisa uses her Albanian boyfriend, Bilal; Renata uses Luisa’s body to orchestrate her revenge. Both want to leave the small community where they have grown up among village festivals and independence gatherings, helpless families and new generations of migrants targeted by those who feel increasingly threatened. Luisa, Renata and Bilal will risk loosing themselves, loosing a precious part of themselves, of those they love, ultimately loosing their own lives.

Trailer

Directors' statement

The setting could have been any small town on the planet, but it was in the Northeast of Italy that I found the tales that make up the storyline of SMALL HOMELAND / PICCOLA PATRIA. It was there, in that atmosphere, that I saw merge the language, the faces and characters, the personal and group dynamics. My approach to the film was physical: starting from a screenplay waiting to be torn apart, I created a summer whirlwind that unites improvisation and observation, research and the creation of the characters.

Luisa and Renata want to get away from a work culture centred around just trying to make money and often failing, away from the banality of a life that is doomed to sacrifice and silence, away from the anger that having no dreams triggers. The conflict is between two worlds, that of adolescents - alive, sensual, free, without knowing it is - and that of adults: motionless, resigned, double. And yet there is something common to all: a dark area, a memory that marks the flesh of the girls and remains unspoken. Sex, which one uses to make fun of the world, to escape aimlessly from the falsity of conformity, for the other is a blind way to redeem herself from pettiness and violence – a pretext for revenge. Over time the game of love, friendship and sexuality assumes the contours of a tragic reality that looses spontaneity and innocence forever.

Alessandro Rossetto

Gallery

Festivals and awards (selected)

• 70. Venice Film Festival 2013
• Trieste Film Festival 2014
• International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014
• CPH:PIX Copenhagen International Film Festival 2014
• München Film Festival 2014
• Il cinema italiano visto da Milano 2014 - Jury award
• Premio Monty Banks 2014 - Jury award
• Gallio Film Festival 2014 - Audience award; Best actor (Diego Ribon)
• Bimbi Belli 2014 - Best actress (Maria Roveran)
• Festival du film italien de Villerupt 2014 - Prix Amilcar du Jury
• Asti Film Festival 2014 - Audience award; Best feature film
• Nastri d'Argento 2014 - Nomination best story (Alessandro Rossetto and Caterina Serra)
• Globi d'oro 2014 - Nomination best music (Paolo Segat)
• Ciak d'oro 2014 - Nomination "Bello e invisibile"
• Premio Kineo "Diamanti al cinema italiano" 2014 - Nomination best first feature film