La diga

by Fulvio Bernasconi

When Elena and her daughter Giorgia decide to go to Bosco Lais to visit a house inherited from an elderly aunt, they expect to find an idyllic mountain village. To their surprise they soon discover that people avoid them.

TV Fiction

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DATA SHEET

Orginal title:

La diga

Year:

2003

Length (min.):

81'

Original language:

italiano

Subtitles:

francese, inglese

International Title:

The Dam

Production:

ventura film sa

Co-Producers:

RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera, ARTE G.E.I.E.

Worlds sales:

ventura film sa

Distributors:

ventura film sa

With the support of:

DFI, Ufficio federale della cultura, Fondo per le teleproduzioni, Canton Ticino

Facts & Figures:

World premiere, September 2003

Festivals
(selection):

17ème Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels, 2004
9e Cinéma tout écran, 2003

SYNOPSIS

When Elena and her daughter Giorgia, a lively 8 year old, decide to go to Bosco Lais to visit a house inherited from an elderly aunt, they expect to find an idyllic mountain village. To their surprise they soon discover that people avoid them, seem afraid and want them to leave immediately. Elena is not intimidated, on the contrary, she wants to find out why this village is so hostile towards them. She discovers the existence of a sister an exact look-a-like Giorgia, who died when the dam was being built. A memory that the town's people have tried to forget but that their arrival has painfully brought back.

LOCATION

Vallemaggia

COLLECTIONS

Cinémathèque suisse

CAST & CREW

Direction:

Fulvio Bernasconi

Film script:

Grischa Duncker, Fulvio Bernasconi

Cast:

Astrid Casali, Giorgia Senesi, Pier Paolo Capponi, Stefano Fiorentino, Valentin Rossier, Margaretha von Kraus

Director of photography:

Joseph Areddy

Scenography:

Fabrizio Nicora

Sound:

Massimo Pellegrini

Editing:

Carlotta Cristiani, Sabrina Foti

Music:

Alberto Morelli, Stefano Scarani

Producers:

Elda Guidinetti, Andres Pfaeffli

HIGHLIGHTS

A graduate of DAVI, the film school that is part of Lausanne's École cantonale d'Art (ECAL), Lugano-born Fulvio Bernasconi is undoubtedly one of the most important Swiss directors today. He works in both fiction and documentary, both for cinema (Fuori dalle corde, 2007, awarded at Locarno, Miséricorde, 2016) and television (the series Quartier des banques, 2017-2019). For his first feature film, shot for Swiss television and ARTE, director Fulvio Bernasconi takes a talented stab at the fantasy genre and uses the variety of Ticino's landscapes to reinforce the strangeness and magic of the tale. La diga was presented in competition at the Festival Tout Écran in Geneva. When Elena and her daughter Giorgia - a lively 8-year-old girl - decide to go to Bosco Lais, where the dam is located, to see the house they inherited from an old aunt, they expect to find an idyllic village in the mountains. To their astonishment, they realize that the people are avoiding them and seem to be afraid of them, wanting them to leave immediately. Elena, however, is not intimidated, on the contrary, she is determined to understand why the village is so hostile to her. She discovers that she had a sister identical to Giorgia, who died when the dam was built. A memory that the village has tried to forget and that their arrival has brought back to the surface.

Frédéric Maire, Director Cinémathèque Suisse

La diga

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