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 | ANIMAL BLESSINGS (Benedizione delle Bestie) | World Premiere |
Cast: | Emanuelle Ferrarini, Loredana De Luca, Tommaso Praturlon | Crew: | Executive Producers: Renzo Carbonara - Producers: Claudia Medina - Screenwriters: Claudia Medina - Cinematographer: Luca Coassin - Editor: Claudia Medina - Composer: Gil Talmi
| Email: | claudiaminerva yahoo.com |
synopsis It is the late 1940's in a rural Friulian village, on the feast of St. Anthony the Abbot, patron saint of farmers and animals. A shy and awkward boy, Tunuti, is sent by his mother to take the family cow to be blessed at the local church. On his way he encounters Paoli, a young poet from the city working as a schoolteacher in the village. An avowed atheist, Paoli questions and lectures Tunuti about his faith, the monk's robe that his mother makes him wear, and the misguided nature of animal blessings and religion in general. Far from convincing Tunuti of anything, the interaction does provide Stella the cow a chance to escape, forcing Paolo to try and find her, and in so doing, gain a deeper understanding of the rural culture he so admires but can never really belong to.
director Claudia Medina is a filmmaker from British Columbia, Canada. For the past fifteen years she has explored visual storytelling in documentary, fiction, experimental, and installation. Her narrative shorts which she wrote and directed have been inspired by her Mexican and Italian heritage, often evoking traditions and cultural themes that are not commonly known. Her short films have been screened at festivals worldwide. Claudia is currently developing a feature film and is in production for a feature documentary exploring new economic cultures. She also designs and offers workshops and courses in filmmaking that focus on connection to cultural histories and a relationship to nature.
Website Filmography
filmmaker's note The first fiction film to be shot in the western dialect of Friulian. It was inspired by the stories of my family and of Pier Paolo Pasolini.
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