Cartella stampa

mediaTREE produzioni in association with ROUGH CAT
in co-production with RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera
present
STELLA CIAO
a documentary film by Vito Robbiani
DCP 60’ OV Italian, English, French, German, Spanish
German/French subtitles
world premiere:
SINOSSI
Silvio, 50 anni di origine sarda, amante della musica jazz e del karaoke, è il gerente dello
“Stella d’Oro”, un ristorante con alloggio costruito più di 100 anni fa sulle sponde svizzere
del Lago Maggiore. Da qualche tempo la struttura ospita, oltre ai sempre più rari turisti,
anche dei richiedenti l’asilo. L’edificio ha però i giorni contati, minacciato da un progetto
edilizio per un nuovo complesso residenziale. Nell’attesa, i giorni che rimangono sono
segnati dallo scorrere della vita, in un luogo dove s’incrociano storie e sogni di persone di
culture e origini diverse.
STELLA CIAO è il ritratto dell’ultimo anno e mezzo di esistenza di un luogo particolare,
uno spaccato di vita unico e irripetibile, colto poco prima della sua distruzione...
★
SYNOPSIS
Fifty-year-old, Sardinian-born Silvio – a lover of jazz music and karaoke shows – manages
the “Stella d’Oro” boarding house. Built on the Swiss side of Lake Maggiore more than a
hundred years ago, the place has been accommodating less and less tourists, and a few
asylum seekers. But its days are numbered: it is threatened by a property restoration
project for a new private housing estate. Its few remaining days depict the passing of life in
a place of encounter for the stories and dreams of people coming from different locations
and cultures.
STELLA CIAO is the portrait of the last year and a half in the existence of a peculiar place,
a unique slice of life as it was seized right before its destruction.
NOTE DELL’AUTORE
La pensione Stella d’Oro è stata, durante i suoi due ultimi anni di esistenza, un vero e
proprio microcosmo, un formicaio brulicante di vita dove si sono incontrati uomini e donne
di paesi e culture diverse, tutti in transito. Silvio, il gerente di cinquant’anni, arrivato dalla
Sardegna, ha lavorato una vita per iniziare un’attività tutta sua; Maria, la donna delle
pulizie portoghese che ha lasciato la sua terra d’origine per cercare lavoro; i richiedenti
l’asilo, con il loro carico di vicende personali, di sofferenze, di speranze; i turisti, ognuno
con la propria origine e le proprie aspettative. E non da ultimi i residenti di Tenero, i fedeli
clienti del ristorante-pensione che animavano il locale durante le serate dedicate al jazz e
al karaoke che Silvio era solito organizzare.
La decisione di accettare gli asilanti è stata per Silvio una scelta non facile. Ma il timore di
vedersi un giorno le ruspe arrivare in giardino, e la progressiva diminuzione della clientela,
hanno contribuito a convincerlo. Inaspettatamente questi nuovi ospiti gli hanno dato un
nuovo slancio e un ruolo diverso da quello del semplice gerente. Anche loro, proprio come
successe a lui 35 anni prima, sono arrivati in Svizzera cercando una vita migliore.
“Stella Ciao” ha molteplici livelli di narrazione. Le “modine” che svettavano sulla pensione
sono l’annuncio di una fine imminente, e sono in relazione con gli asilanti in attesa di una
risposta riguardo al proprio futuro in Svizzera. Per il territorio, con la chiusura e la
distruzione del palazzo, è invece il ricordo materiale di un passato centenario ad essere
finito in polvere. Una struttura che ha ospitato i viandanti diretti in Italia che ad inizio
novecento si fermavano con la diligenza. Un albergo che fu acquistato da uno zio delle
ultime due proprietarie, quando rientrò dalla California ricco e pieno d’idee.
Le vicissitudini della Stella d’Oro sono l’esempio di un paese in totale contraddizione, che
se da un lato investe massicciamente nel mattone, spesso degradando il paesaggio,
dall’altro non vuole accogliere nuovi cittadini, soprattutto se non sono dei buoni
contribuenti.
Al posto dell’albergo Stella d'Oro, e nel resto dei terreni circostanti destinati a piano di
quartiere dal Comune di Tenero, sorgerà uno degli ennesimi progetti residenziali “high
standing” (160 appartamenti). Spazi d’abitazione destinati probabilmente anche a stranieri,
ma costruiti da imprenditori svizzeri.
Il nostro è un paese che non sa bene cosa fare con chi bussa alla sua porta e che per
indecisione li parcheggia ai margini, laddove non arrecano troppo disturbo. Una nazione
che dimentica di essere stata costruita da stranieri (vedi votazione contro l’immigrazione di
massa), e che dissolve le proprie radici e i propri paesaggi sull’altare del profitto. Quello
dell'edilizia forsennata è, in Ticino e in Svizzera, un tema molto sentito, basti pensare alle
recenti votazioni sulle residenze secondarie.
Una società che si è abituata ad accettare lo sconvolgimento del proprio territorio, che
inevitabilmente sconvolgerà il nostro vivere e il nostro essere animali sociali.
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
In its last two years of existence, the Stella d’Oro boarding house turned into a genuine
microcosm, a swarming anthill where several men and women in transit had the chance to
meet. They all came from different countries and cultures: Silvio, the fifty-year-old,
Sardinian-born manager who had been working lifelong to run his own business; Maria,
the Portuguese cleaning lady who had left her home country in search of a job; the asylum
seekers with their burden of personal history, suffering, and hope; the tourists with their
origins and expectations. Last but not least, the local people from Tenero, the loyal
customers of small hotel who filled the venue during the jazz or karaoke nights Silvio used
to organize.
The decision to accept asylum seekers had not been easy for Silvio: he was only
persuaded by the decrease in customer numbers and the fear he would find bulldozers in
his garden one day. But his new guests unexpectedly provided him with a new impulse
and a new role, which was not that of a simple manager anymore, for they came to
Switzerland in search of a better life, just like he had done 35 years before.
“Stella Ciao” features multiple narrative layers. The “modine” (i.e., pole-like structures that
outline the amount of space that will be occupied by a future building) that ominously tower
on the building announce that its end is coming, and they are connected to the asylum
seekers waiting for an answer as to their future in Switzerland. The closing down and the
demolition of the building also mean that a physical memory of a century-long local
experience will be entirely destroyed. The place used to host coach travellers going to Italy
in the early twentieth century, and was bought by one of its latest owner’s uncle when he
came back from California as a rich and resourceful man.
The vicissitudes of the “Stella d’Oro” epitomize the stark contradictions of a country where
building investments are massive – even though often to the detriment of the Swiss
landscape – but where new citizens are not welcome, especially if they are not going to be
great taxpayers.
The umpteenth high standing private estate will replace the boarding house with 160 flats
that will probably accommodate foreigners, too, but that will have been built by Swiss
contractors.
Our country tends to marginalize those who come knocking on our door and put them in
places where they do not bother us too much. We do that out of indecision, for we do not
really know what to do with them. Our land is forgetting that it has been built by foreigners
(see what happened on the occasion of the poll against mass immigration) and it is
erasing its roots and landscape in favour of sheer gain. The construction industry frenzy is
a popular discussion issue in Switzerland and the Ticino area: it is enough to think of the
recent poll about second homes.
Swiss society has gotten used to the disarray of its territory, which will inevitably upset our
social and existential ways.
TECHNICAL CREDITS
directed by
Vito Robbiani
research and story editing Mario Fabio
camera Vito Robbiani
assistant director Gioele Di Stefano
editor Samir Samperisi
sound editor Riccardo Studer
premix Marco Monti
original music Sandro Schneebeli
color grading Mauro Boscarato - Amaranta Pictures
sound mix Riccardo Studer @ PIC FILM studio
steadicam operator Ariel Salati
sound recordings Adriano Schrade
graphics and finalization Gioele Di Stefano
produced by Nicola Bernasconi
co-produced by RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera
RSI project editor Silvana Bezzola
made with the support of Repubblica e Cantone Ticino
Fondo FilmPlus della Svizzera italiana
Fonds de production télévisuelle s.à.r.l.
Office féderal de la culture - aide au
traitement
original version Italian, English, German, French, Spanish
subtitles German/French, English
running time 60’55’’
color / b&w color
shooting format SONY EX1 & SONY PMW-200
screening formats DCP, ProRes 422 file
screen ratio 16:9
sound 5.1 + stereo
DIRECTOR’S BIO/FILMOGRAPHY
VITO ROBBIANI
Born in 1972, Swiss and Italian nationality. After university held in Nice (France) in Communication
Science and Information, started working as a journalist and then as a filmmaker. Through his
production company, mediaTREE, has collaborated with several European networks, in particular:
Swiss TV (RSI), Euronews, alphaTV-Greece, RTVslovenia, RAI. He teaches audiovisual
techniques and documentary at the University of Applied Sciences in Lugano-Switzerland (SUPSI).
He is a member of the central committee of the Swiss Federation of Journalists (impressum).
Filmography as director
(Independent productions only)
2015
STELLA CIAO (documentary, 60 min.)
Produced by mediaTREE produzioni, in association with ROUGH CAT, co-produced by RSI
Radiotelevisione svizzera.
World premiere: 50. Solothurn Film Festival, official selection Prix du Public
2013
PER L'AMOR DI DIO - FOR GOD'S SAKE (documentary, 70 min.)
Produced by mediaTREE produzioni
Festivals: Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels - Biarritz
2011
SORELLE D’ITALIA co-directed with Lorenzo Buccella (documentary, 78 min.)
Produced by mediaTREE and Amka Films Productions.
Festivals: Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels - Biarritz, Visions du réel - Nyon,
Festival Le Voci dell’Inchiesta - Pordenone, Visioni Italiane - Bologna, Doc in Tour - Emilia
Romagna, Festival Filmtage - Bolzano, Internationales Film Festival - Innsbruck, Other Movie Film
Festival - Lugano
2008
NOI DELLA VALLE - THE VALLEY BUNCH co-directed with Roberto Guidi (doc, 60 min.)
Produced by mediaTREE produzioni.
PRODUCER’S BIO/FILMOGRAPHY
NICOLA BERNASCONI
Born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1973. Grew up in Lugano. Education: Linguistic maturity; Humanistic
studies at the University of Lausanne; Bachelor in Communication Sciences at the University of
Lugano; studies in Film Production at the Film School of Milan, Italy.
Started working in cinema as production assistant in 1996, then worked as freelance production
manager and independent producer in Italy & Switzerland from 2002 until 2005. From 2006 until
2012 worked as assistant and Jr. producer at ventura film, well known production company based
in the south of Switzerland. Since January 2013 returned to work as freelance production manager
and executive producer. In 2014 has founded the film production company ROUGH CAT sagl,
based in Lugano.
Filmography as producer
STELLA CIAO documentary film by Vito Robbiani (60’, CH 2015)
Produced by mediaTREE produzioni, in association with ROUGH CAT, co-produced by RSI
Radiotelevisione svizzera; World premiere: 50. Solothurn Film Festival, official selection Prix du
Public
17 ANNI (Age 17) short film by Filippo Demarchi (22’, CH 2013); produced with Cinédokké / coproduced by ECAL and RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera; Nomination for best short at the Swiss
Cinema Prize 2014; Selected at many intl. festivals such as Palm Springs, Premiers Plans Angers,
Tous Ecrans Geneva,
OVEST (West) short film by Giorgio Carella (25’, I/CH 2005); co-produced with Cameracar
Filmsandprojects.
INFO & CONTACTS
mediaTREE produzioni sagl
Vito Robbiani
via Sole 2 - 6942 Savosa
t: +41 79 221 41 85
[email protected]
www.mediatree.com
ROUGH CAT sagl
Nicola Bernasconi
via Ciseri 3 - 6900 Lugano
t: +41 91 911 97 04
m: +41 76 349 38 71
[email protected]
www.roughcat.ch
LINKS
OFFICIAL TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiAHaQJ84oQ&feature=youtu.be&list=PLpr2lS8clq70jSl--7CYkcCBJ3Gb3E85
FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/docstellaciao
WEBSITE
http://www.mediatree.com/video/stella/