Haunted by a tragic loss, Salvo, a Sicilian fisherman, leaves his hometown to take refuge working in the production of charcoal in the mountainous region of Calabria. Upon hearing news that his father is dying, he returns to the seaside town of Ganzirri, Sicily where he intends to sell the family home and use the funds for a joint custody battle with his ex-wife. His plans are thwarted when he discovers Binta, an immigrant squatting in the dilapidated seafront home with her young son Moussa. Binta claims she worked as a caregiver for Salvo’s father and has a legal right to remain in the house. A tug of war ensues, with Salvo attempting to evict mother and son while he in the meantime restores his father’s sword fishing boat moored below the house. Young Moussa has an aptitude for engine mechanics and a partnership develops as the boy assists Salvo with the rebuilding of the boat’s motor.
Salvo lowers his guard with Binta and finally reveals his culpability in the event which caused him to flee Sicily years earlier. He ultimately comes to the realization that only by forgiving himself and letting go of the past will he be able to return to the land of the living.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE;
Glass Beach has been a passion project since the seed of the idea first came to me on a visit to the Messina Strait, an area that may soon be forever changed with the arrival of the bridge linking Sicily to the mainland. When I first saw a sword fishing boat (Feluca,) traversing this narrow band of sea, I was astonished and became obsessed with telling a story set in this centuries-old practice of the “caccia di pesce spada”, where from atop an antenna towering 30 meters above the boat’s deck, the skipper steers the vessel as his high vantage point allows him to spot swordfish. In setting out to write the script, I spent four years in Sicily and Calabria, living alongside local fishermen where I experienced a total immersion of their culture and world.
Claudio Castrogiovanni, the lead actor who plays Salvo in the film, shared my passion in telling an authentic story and the two of us passed countless hours with the Mancuso family of fisherman in Ganzirri, on their boat and in their home where we were treated as family. I ultimately decided to cast the family members in supporting roles, and this foundation of trust and familiarity based on the bond we formed gives the film a certain authenticity. I worked in a similar way with Souleman Diakite, the young boy who plays Moussa, who had never acted before. Although his scenes were scripted, we relied very little on written dialogue, instead choosing to improvise character needs in search of discovering moments of truth.
The title Glass Beach was inspired by certain beaches along the strait where after decades of bottles having been dumped offshore, colorful shards of glass now wash up on the beaches, their sharp edges dulled by decades of exposure to the sea and sand. This serves as a metaphor for emotional wounds which will never disappear yet their ability to cause pain diminishes over time and a certain beauty can be found among the ruins.
The film has captured a way of life that has lasted for centuries, and I wonder if it will one day become a time capsule to remind us of what was here before being forever transformed by the bridge.