Questioning the memory of her grandparents, Martina identifies a map of places belonging to their past. They lived in Tripoli from when Libya was an Italian colony in the ‘30s to the end of the ‘60s. With the help of a young Libyan contacted on social media she collects images of her grandparents ‘home’ town today. As they exchange pictures and chats their relation grows, overcoming the physical and cultural boundaries that separate them.

TECHNICAL INFORMATIONS

Directed by: Martina Melilli
Production: Stefilm
with ZDF
In collaboration with Arte and Rai Cinema
Supported by MIBACT and Piemonte Doc Film Fund
Producers: Edoardo Fracchia, Stefano Tealdi, Elena Filippini
Editing: Enrica Gatto
Cinematography: Nicola Pertino
Sound design: Matteo Valeri
Music: Nicola Ratti
World Sales: Deckert Distribution
Running time: 66’
Country: Italy
Year: 2018
Contacts: Stefilm | edoardo@stefilm.it, elena@stefilm.it

I believe in the value of individual stories that can tell what is shared by many, in the choral quality of a story that collects its many different shades and points of view. All the Italians who lived the experience of the forced exile from Libya in 1970 share the story of my grandfather Antonio. The story of Mahmoud is the one of a young generation that has to grow, study, become an adult in a country without a specific identity, divided by violence and economical interests, that has to find a way towards its future in all that chaos. (Martina Melilli)