30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

Gedalia and Shira are new settlers, in Palestine. They left the United States, where following their dreams and an unconventional and unorthodox lifestyle was impossible. Free from money, they moved to an increasingly disputed Palestinian territory, occupied by those who build houses and farms, in barren and desert areas, out of nothing. On the border between two peoples, far from modernity and conventions, they have raised a large family, in which the director inserts herself in order to capture the daily life and survival of a small nucleus within a community considered illegal by the state of Israel, but which has continued to expand for over fifty years. On the desert highlands of the Mitzpe Agit, the protagonists manage to lead a spartan and carefree life. Building a mud wall, dancing to exhaustion, seeking happiness beyond one's own horizon: in a landscape full of contradictions and violence, a family tries to go beyond its dreams.

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  Margherita Pescetti

  After studying social anthropology at the University of Siena, she attended courses and direction workshops under the guidance of Alina Marazzi, Silvio Soldini and Bruno Oliviero. Among her first works as a director, Russulella was selected for the Milan Mix Festival and at the Sicilia Queer Film Festival. Passo a Due, directed with Teresa Iaropoli, won the Best Documentary Award at the Molise Cinema Festival and was selected in competition at the Festival Internacional de Cinema Feminino in Rio de Janeiro.