HISTRIA
a documentary by FULVIO MONTANO (HD/16mm 56' - in development)
author and director FULVIO MONTANO - production ZAVOD KINOATELJE and ROSSELLA SCHILLACI for AZUL with the support of PIEMONTE DOC FILM FUND, CITY of TORINO (Assessorato al Commercio e Turismo), DISTIRCT V of TORINO
LOGLINE> The oncoming entrance of Croatia in the EU will delete the last political border of Istria, a land which peoples and nation have contended for during the past centuries. This significative event will provide the hint for a trip from Italy to Slovenia and Croatia.
AUTHOR’S NOTE OF INTENT> The decision of developing a documentary project on the Istrian Exodus theme has taken shape along with the discovery of the Refugees Village in Turin. An isolated place of one of the many Istrian fragments scattered over our Country, the Refugees Village keeps an undamaged identity and memory of one event for a too long time banished on the fringes of the late Italian history.
Talking about the innumerable stories connected with the Italian Exodus also means telling of that Italians minority who choose to stay, incapable of leaving their dearest affections.
First surveys in Istria revealed though a more complicated reality, a land with shifting borders where different cultures and development perspectives faced each others for centuries. From this standing, discriminations that the Italian community suffered there after the WWII are just an episode, part of the troubled history of Istria that have seen in the past same, if not worst persecutions against Slovenian and croatian people.
In these times of the progressive European Union opening and the demolition of the borders among the member states, looking at the recent history of the eastern Italian border and to the innumerable sufferings caused to its people, it fully communicates the absurdity of defining a State simply by tracing a line on a map. A simple and quick act that suddenly frustrates often gained dearly life projects and dreams.
SYNOPSIS> The documentary starting point is the Refugees Village in Torino where we meet the people from the Istrian exiles association (ANVGD); among them Mario and Egidio, good friends and photography lovers.
From the Istria that is still and always present in the exiles memory we move first to Trieste then to nowadays Istria that is still divided between Slovenia and Croatia. Here we will retrace back over the stages of the exiles journey meeting the Italian minority spread over all the Peninsula. From Portorose to Rovigno and Dignano, to a present full of expectations.
Finally we meet again Mario during his first flight, a portrait of lightness which is both a realization of a dream and an exhortation to look forward.
WORKSHOP/MARKET> EURODOC, Biella 2008 - project presentation
slides>>>