Scorched Earth!

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Scorched Earth! (Terra bruciata!)

Scorched Earth! (Terra bruciata!)

original title:

Terra bruciata!

directed by:

cast:

Antonio Pennarella, Paola Lavini, Mino Sferra, Arturo Sepe, Antonello Cossia, Lucianna De Falco

cinematography:

world sales:

country:

Italy

year:

2017

film run:

90'

format:

colour & b/w

release date:

19/04/2018

festivals & awards:

  • ICFF Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2018: Official Selection
  • Social World Film Festival 2018: Best Feature Length Documentary
  • International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra 2018: Audience Award
  • International Monthly Film Festival 2018: Best Documentary (May)
  • MedFF 2018: Audience Award
  • Oniros Film Awards 2018: Best Documentary
  • Ischia Global Fest 2018: Official Selection
  • Mantova Film Fest 2018: Best Documentary
  • Galà del Cinema e della Fiction 2018: Special Jury Award
  • CineBus, Festival Cinematografico on the Road 2018: Best Documentary
  • Capri Hollywood 2019: Official Selection
  • History Film Festival 2019: Official Selection
  • International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra 2018: Best Documentary
  • Docs Without Borders Film Festival 2019: Best Documentary
  • Parma Music Film Festival 2019: Special Jury Award

November 1st 1943, in Conca della Campania, a tiny village in a south Italian province, 19 civilians are slaughtered by a Nazi patrol. Graziella Di Gasparro, daughter of one of the fallen, strenuously fought for years to keep alive the memory of that forgotten massacre. The murder of Graziella’s father was the brutal epilogue of the German occupation of that area. The area between Naples and Casino - the first Italian territory to be declared "Operations Zone" by the German army, after the 8th September armistice – was the first Italian territory to experience the devastating shockwave of the brutal Nazi war laws against civilians. The occupation of the political institutions, the raids on consumer goods, the rounding up and deportation of men to forced-labour camps in Germany – more than 21,000 people - and the devastation of industries, infrastructures and civilian’s home are the reasons that triggered the first resistance actions organized by civilians in Italy. After the rebellion of Napoli, in Riardo, a small town few kilometres from Capua, local Partisan troops drive away the Germans from the town while institutions and citizens of Tora and Piccilli save a little Jewish community from deportation. The German reaction to the countless actions of insubordination was immediate. An insane violence hit the whole territory. The victims caused by dozens of reprisals were 752. Caserta, in fact, is the hardest hit south Italian province by Nazi murders. The massacre of Conca della Campania, therefore, according to the thesis of the historian Giuseppe Angelone, assumes a key role to better understand the metamorphosis of the German occupation of Italy from a "tolerated" cohabitation to an aggressive and violent hegemony towards the civilian population. Graziella on November 1st 2016, after years of suffering and struggles, finally had a day of relief from her tragic family story. In fact, on the 73rd commemoration of the massacre, the German ambassador in Italy attended the institutional ceremony in order to demonstrate the commitment of German govern to reconcile the two European Countries.