Ahead of me the south

original title:

Vor mir der Suden

italian title:

Davanti a me il sud

directed by:

editing:

Andrew Bird, Gregor Bartsch

production:

Bittersuess Pictures, Albolina Film, with the support of Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Deutscher Filmförderfonds, IDM Film Commission Südtirol

country:

Germany/Italy

year:

2020

film run:

115'

format:

colour

status:

Ready (20/08/2020)

festivals & awards:

  • DOC LA — Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival 2020: Best International Documentary Award
  • Fünf Seen Filmfestival 2020
  • Kasseler Dokfestes 2020
  • Ischia Global Fest 2021

3,700 kilometres of coastline, a Fiat Millecento, and an old travel diary, those are the ingredients for Pepe Danquart’s documentary Ahead of me the South (Vor mir der Süden). Following the footsteps of the great Italian thinker Pier Paolo Pasolini, the filmmaker gains a deep insight into the social reality of present-day Italy. The country is massively affected by globalisation and the phenomenon of mass tourism, which, more than ever, is characterised by the same hedonistic conformity that Pasolini lamented more than fifty years ago. The film also sheds light on the situation of African refugees who, after their perilous flight to Europe, mostly end up on the Italian coast. Ahead of me the South is a poetic contemporary document, a kaleidoscopic picture of the Italy of today.