30th Film Festival of Lessinia Bosco Chiesanuova 22 - 31 August 2025

Listening to the traditional instruments, the polyphonic renderings, and the ancient songs passed down through oral tradition and documented by the De Serio brothers in two hours of visual and sonic observation, one might think they were in the East, or in Africa—hearing echoes of every language of the Mediterranean. And yet, everything unfolds in Italy: in the mountain regions of Calabria and Sicily, as well as Marche and Liguria, where local musical customs still endure, passed down through generations. The film brings to light a vast ethnomusicological heritage that lives on in the hands of those who craft traditional instruments, in the impassioned rehearsals of singers, in communal performances. Its visual approach is inspired by Byzantine iconography and medieval art. The stillness of the shots and long takes suggest the need to dilate time. This is a gaze free of nostalgia, where even the young people sing and play, proving that these traditions are not relics of the past, but are, above all, alive in the mountains.