Omelia Contadina
by Alice Rohrwacher and JR
A peasant community gathers on the hills bordering three regions to celebrate the funeral of traditional agriculture. A cinematic action to prevent the disappearance of a millenary culture.
Note from Alice Rohrwachter:
Last fall, while having a walk at the border between Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany, I expressed my concerns to my friend and artist JR about the destruction of the agricultural landscape, violated by the proliferation of intensive monocultures that are shaping entire territories. As a daughter of a beekeeper, I told him about the die-off of insects that derives from it, and about the struggles of the small farmers who try to resist this swollen river of speculations, subsidies, pesticides. At a certain point we stopped at a crossroads: on all fronts uninterrupted rows of hazel trees spread until the horizon. As we watched this landscape we both thought it looked like a war cemetery. On our way back we decided: if it looks like a cemetery, we have to celebrate a funeral. But let it be a funeral full of life! That’s how the project Omelia Contadina was born: a cinematographic action that wants, through our work, to support the struggle of small farmers and citizens of the Alfina’s altopiano.
A funeral, but also a hymn of hope dedicated to all those people who keep us alive, day after day, producing our food.
Alice Rohrwacher directed Le Meraviglie (The Wonders), winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Born in 1981 in Fiesole, she studied in Turin and Lisbon.She has worked in music and documentary projects. She has also worked as an editor and composer for theatre. Her first feature Corpo Celeste made its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight (Cannes 2011).
DIRECTOR'S FILMOGRAPHY
2020 Omelia Contadina (short)
2018 Lazzaro Felice (Happy as Lazzaro)
2014 Le Meraviglie (The Wonders)
2011 Corpo Celeste
2018 Lazzaro Felice (Happy as Lazzaro)
2014 Le Meraviglie (The Wonders)
2011 Corpo Celeste
Luciano Vergaro
Dario Sforza
Iris Pulvano
Emanuele La Barbera
Elisa Cortese
The farm workers
Original Title: Omelia Contadina
Duration in Minutes: 09 min
Languages: Italian
Year: 2020
