May 27, 2024, 12:27 pm
4 min read
PALERMO – It will be the “Preface to the dream of a different Sicily” by the writer Roberto Alajmo, Thursday 30 May at 4pm in the Sala Piersanti Mattarella at the Royal Palace of Palermo, to officially present Giuseppe De Michele’s documentary “Siciliani Sognatori”.
The documentary, a medium-length film, tells, in four distinct episodes, stories of beauty and transformation that took place in Sicily, a land where every year we witness an exodus of people, especially young people, who decide to abandon the island in search of a better future.
A drain of arms and brains towards other regions or abroad which is causing strong depopulation and the abandonment of territories. A migratory problem that does not only have to do with coercion, but also depends on a framework of deafening silence that silences consciences, silences political debate and blinds the sight to the consequences of depopulation.
Emigrating becomes normality and we don’t care about the consequences. “Sicilian dreamers” by Giuseppe De Michele does not have an anthropological intent, it aims straight at the heart: it tells the stories of ordinary Sicilians who have done something extraordinary, dreaming. Thus, the stories of Antonio Pasqualino, Andrea Bartoli and FlorindaSaieva, Antonio Presti, Maurizio Spinelli emerge in their splendid and simple grandeur.
Andrea Bartoli is the co-founder together with Florinda Saieva of the “Farm Cultural Park” of Favara, now famous art gallery and residence for artists located in Favara in the province of Agrigento.
Antonio Pasqualino senior was the surgeon and the distinguished anthropologist who founded the Association for the conservation of popular traditions in 1965 and later, in 1975, the International Puppet Museum of Palermo, which bears his name.
To tell the dream of Antonio Pasqualino, who died in 1996, is the grandson of the same name, who says: “I believe in dreams: these dreams must not be left in drawers, they must be opened, they must be looked at and they must be fulfilled”.
The patron Antonio Presti he designed and created at his own expense Fiumara d’Arte, the largest monumental sculpture park in Europe, located in the Halaesa valley.
Maurizio Spinelli is an entrepreneur who, from nothing, created the Forno Santa Rita, in the village of the same name a few kilometers from Delia. Today the Forno Santa Rita has given work to several people and the village, almost depopulated, has become a destination for gourmets and visitors.
Giuseppe De Michele, photographer and video documentary maker, conceived, recorded and produced these four stories – a journey through modern-day Sicily in search of great stories – with his own professional equipment. The association “Una Traccia” and the videomaker Alberto Maria collaborated in the filming.
In the presentation of the documentary, on May 30th at Palazzo dei Normanni, introducing the work is the vice-president of the Culture Commission at the Sicilian Regional Assembly, the deputy Valentina Chinnici. Moderated by Laura Salamone, director of the Ars Commissions Service. The writer Roberto Alajmo is entrusted with the short essay “Premise to the dream of a different Sicily”.
Below are speeches by Florinda Sajeva, Andrea Bortoli, Antonio Presti, Rosario Perricone, director of the international puppet museum Antonio Pasqualino, Dora Cordone, art historian. Participating in the event are Antonio Maria, president of the “Una Traccia” association, and Maurizio Spinelli, the promoter of the rebirth of the Santa Rita village.
“’Siciliani Sognatori’ by Giuseppe De Michele enchants with its intense journey through Sicily, discovering places steeped in authenticity and above all people who tell unique stories of beauty and transformation. In an area often marked by the exodus of young people in search of opportunities elsewhere, these documentaries become a light of hope – comments Andrea Bartoli -.
Through the testimonies and the lives told, the strength and resilience of a land that seeks to reaffirm its identity emerge. In a period in which the diaspora seems an inevitable destiny, these stories represent an invitation to look forward with confidence and to valorise the roots of a Sicily that continues to dream and fight for a better future. Siciliani Sognatori is part of ‘We Everything Manca il Resto’ of Farm Cultural Park, the first edition of a four-year transdisciplinary event dedicated to Sicily.”
For Antonio Presti “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams, there is no future without dreaming of the future. And for this reason we need to accompany young people, through school, family, artistic and cultural activities, out of a dystopian reality, and help them with the disruptive force of dreams, vision, words, heresy to rediscover the freedom of dreaming. : a subversive gesture, compared to the ‘here and now’ of goods and consumption; design impact force, which brings about a metamorphosis of desire, piercing the wall of resignation to the existing, opening life to the other side of the possible. And there is no future without dream, without beauty, without heresy.”
Published on
May 27, 2024, 12:27 pm
