original title:
In questo mondo
directed by:
cast:
Michela Battasi, Donatella Germano, Rosetta Germano, Gabriella Michelozzi, Caterina De Boni Fiabane, Assunta Valente, Anna Arcari, Maria Oliveto, Efisia Podda, Lucia Colombino, Marica Colombino, Elia Nicolai, Alessandra Tomei, Addolorata Di Fiore, Rosa Aquilanti, Brigida Ciorciaro, Rosina Paoli, Anne Line Redtroen, Aste Redtroen, Assunta Calvino, Michela Agus, Maria Pia Vercellese Marchese
cinematography:
editing:
producer:
production:
country:
Italy
year:
2018
film run:
100'
format:
colour
status:
Ready (08/03/2018)
festivals & awards:
The documentary highlights the lives of female sheep herders in Italy and it is the result of a two years’ journey of about 17,000 km and of more of 100 interviews with women aged between 20 and 102. The figure of the shepherd –from an imaginary and symbolical point of view - has always been mainly a male one. But the field of sheep-goat farming is being taken over by a growing number of women who have chosen this traditional patriarchal work. Shepherdesses are perfectly present-day, they often live alone but also with partners or with their family, and therefore they are fully involved in their social and economic communities. The film follows the director’s experience while living with them for some time, connecting with them deeply. These bonds of friendship and affection have become true narrative, spontaneous and intimate, of the protagonists’ motivations, difficulties and satisfactions. The documentary is therefore the portrayal of this unfamiliar world, where the distinctive female outlook implies taking care of the animals and protecting their extraordinary biodiversity, alongside this, preserving the majestic high-altitude Italian landscapes.