Sicilian Ghost Story

Movie
Original title	Sicilian Ghost Story
Country of production	France , Italy , Switzerland
original language	Italian
Publishing year	2017
length	122 minutes
Rod
Director	Fabio Grassadonia , Antonio Piazza
script	Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
music	Soap & Skin , Anton Spielmann
camera	Luca Bigazzi
cut	Cristiano Travaglioli
occupation
	Julia Jedlikowska : Luna; Gaetano Fernandez : Giuseppe; Corinne Musallari : Loredana; Andrea Falzone : Nino; Federico Finocchiaro : Calogero; Lorenzo Curcio : Mariano; Vincenzo Amato : Luna's father; Sabine Timoteo : Luna's mother;

Sicilian Ghost Story is a Swiss-Italian-French fantasy film by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza , which premiered on May 18, 2017 as part of the Cannes Film Festival's Critics' Week and was released in French cinemas on November 15, 2017. In Germany, the film was shown for the first time as part of the Fantasy Film Festival in September 2017.

action

When 13-year-old Giuseppe disappears from a small Sicilian village, people are silent and pretend that nothing has happened. His father was once a close associate of the Mafia chief and is currently in police custody. Luna, a classmate who is in love with him, cannot accept this. She sets out into that dark world that Giuseppe has swallowed. The entrance to this mysterious world is in a lake, and only her love for it can bring her back to Giuseppe, who once saved her.

production

Staff and cast

The directors were Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza , who also wrote the screenplay for the film. In their film they mixed fairytale and mythological motifs with the story of a kidnapping by the Mafia, which they had experienced themselves and which was a decisive experience in their youth. Both grew up in Sicily in the 1980s, at a time when the Mafia was terrorizing the population. Because the mafioso Santo Di Matteo changed sides there and cooperated with the judiciary, the notorious Brusca clan had kidnapped his son Giuseppe Di Matteo. He was held captive in an underground dungeon for two years until he was strangled and then dissolved in acid. Grassadonia and Piazza describe this period as the worst in their area's recent history, and the kidnapping was what caused both directors to leave their homes.

It was important to the directors that the story of poor Giuseppe Di Matteo not be forgotten. Instead of faithfully reproducing their childhood memories and the story of the kidnapping, according to a criticism of the SRF, they tell them in the film in an artistic way, mixing the real events with a fictional love story between the kidnapped boy and a girl from his school, which did not exist in the actual story about the kidnapping of Giuseppe Di Matteo: “The combination of reality and fiction is a dark fairy tale that takes place on two levels.” The film has the essence of a fantasy film .

The main character Luna is played by Julia Jedikowska , who made her debut as an actress with the film. Gaetano Fernandez took on the role of Giuseppe. Luna's parents are played by Vincenzo Amato and Sabine Timoteo .

publication

The film premiered on May 18, 2017 during Critics' Week of the Cannes Film Festival and was released in French cinemas on November 15, 2017. In Germany, the film was shown for the first time as part of the Fantasy Film Festival in September 2017. In October 2017 there was a screening at the London Film Festival and in March 2018 at the Dublin Film Festival. In April 2018 the film was shown at the Belfast Film Festival. In July 2018 a screening took place at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival , in autumn 2018 at the Zurich Film Festival . It is slated to hit US cinemas on November 30, 2018.

reception

Reviews

The film has so far won over 93 percent of all Rotten Tomatoes critics and received an average rating of 7.2 out of a possible 10 points.

Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter thinks it would have been enough if Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza had simply told the story of Giuseppe Di Matteo, but in their film they deepened its intensity and expanded its meaning by setting the story in someone else's place cinematic space between cruel reality and ghostly fantasy unfolded.