Director Laura Bianco

Countries Italy

Duration 40 min

Synopsis
The story of the director’s family is recomposed by putting together all individual memories and points of view in a big collage lasting a daytime – the day of her grandfather’s death., Coming from patriarchal families of Southern Italy, a young couple moved to Milan to start its own family. The first of their children is the director’s father, whose childhood was strongly affected by pressure from the whole family and who tried to turn against his parents during his youth. In the context of the developing Italian society of the ‘60s, each character lives the tension of a life stretched between two incompatible worlds, where resentment and melancholy of the past mingle with the impetuous spirit of the youth. A portrait of four generations trapped in a game of forced roles and expectations, in which the individual struggles to break free and to find his own identity., Hidden character of the story is the director herself. Moved by the fear of becoming victim of the same family dynamics, she tries first of all to observe and understand them. Her silent, critical look over the shadows of her family constitutes a cathartic practice aimed at breaking the spell of the past.