Piccola Patria (Small Homeland) at Open Roads

I’m particularly excited for today’s screening of Piccola Patria (Small Homeland) at New York Lincoln Center’s Open Roads: New Italian Cinema.

Director Alessandro Rossetto, a former documentary maker, has done everything right in this hyper-realistic, disquieting story of misguided youth. The dialogue is realistic and at times seems almost unscripted, but not in a meandering way. It’s real, but we’re kept on track with its point.

I first watched this film at its premier at the Venice Film Festival, where it got the audience seal of approval with long applause and cheers.

I remember seeing the actors behind me in the Biennale’s Sala Grande and I was particularly impressed, because if I hadn’t seen them there with their suits and fancy dresses, I might have forgotten that Luisa, Renata and Bilal were actors and not really the characters in the film that they so authentically portrayed.

The soundtrack is powerful and moving, particularly with two traditional songs from the region, Joska La Rossa and L’Aqua ‘Ze Morta, sung by a booming chorus as the film opens and closes.

I got a chance to talk with Rossetto, and the interview is coming soon, but I can tell you now that he is clearly a director to watch for in the future.