original title:
Basileia
directed by:
screenplay:
cinematography:
editing:
set design:
costume design:
producer:
production:
Stayblack, Snowglobe, Film i Vast, Rai Cinema, with the support of Fondazione Calabria Film Commission
world sales:
country:
Italy/Sweden/Denmark
year:
2024
film run:
90'
format:
colour
status:
Ready (19/07/2024)
festivals & awards:
In the rugged, fog-shrouded mountains of Aspromonte, an archaeologist and his assistants are seeking an ancient treasure. But their digs release mysterious mythological creatures who will change the lives of the inhabitants of a remote village forever.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES:
Aspromonte, with its wild, savage landscapes, is the real protagonist of the story I tell. There, the past is always present; it is the keeper of tradition that also metes out fates that are inescapable. Conflicts explode with no warning at special times, when outside forces and foreign threats come into play. In my film, the archaeologist and the activity he brings to the area represent this sudden, violent intrusion that will trigger unimaginable consequences. The attempt to unearth the past and submit it to the imperatives of science and commerce will unleash violent, monstrous reactions. From the bowels of a wounded and desecrated planet emerge the Nymphs, menacing yet charismatic presences. They are creatures with no inhibitions at all: neither human nor divine; neither alive nor dead. Once they have been freed, they steal into the nearby villages, sowing death and destruction. Undefinable, ephemeral and ethereal as the fog on the hillsides, they leave indelible traces on whatever they touch. They have come to re-establish a distance between humans and the world’s mysteries.