Assandira

Soaked to the skin, Costantino sinks into the haystack like old timber left on the shore by a stormy sea. Torrential rain has just put out the fire that in a single night ravaged Assandira, a farmstay deep in the woods of Sardinia. But the rain hasn't quenched the pain, the endless remorse for the son lost to the flames, the son he was unable to save. The first to arrive are the carabinieri and the young investigating magistrate: Costantino tries to tell them what happened the previous night, to explain how it all began…

Salvatore Mereu was born in Dorgali on 17 March 1965. With his first full-length film, Ballo a Tre Passi (2003), he began exploring the relationship between tradition and modernity in his native Sardinia, winning the Venice Critics' Week and taking home both the David di Donatello and Ciak d'Oro as the best upcoming director. His second film, Sonetàula (2008), was screened in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, and went on to win the Foreign Press Golden Globe and the Biarritz Festival FIPA d'Or for best screenplay. Mereu returned to the Venice Film Festival in 2010 with Tajabone, then to the festival's 2012 Orizzonti section with Bellas Mariposas, which won the Schermi di Qualità award and ultimately also the Rotterdam Big Screen Award.