Uncovering Calabria: 20 Years in Film

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of
A pena do pana (The Cost of Bread)

Uncovering Calabria: 20 Years in Film

A Conversation with
Lucia Grillo, filmmaker
Founder, Calabrisella Films

In ENGLISH

At a pivotal moment in her career, after being discovered by Spike Lee shortly upon graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, New York native Lucia Grillo left her budding Hollywood career as an actress to found Calabrisella Films and become the first woman filmmaker in Calabria, Italy, where her parents were born. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of her acclaimed award-winning directorial debut, A pena do pana (The Cost of Bread), Casa Italiana presents the screening of three short films by Lucia Grillo:

A pena do pana (The Cost of Bread) Run time: 18 min. 2005
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Lucia Grillo’s debut narrative film won Best Digital Short at the Rome Film Festival in 2005, filmed in Italy during the industry crossroads between shooting on film vs. digital. Called “poetry on celluloid,” the story takes place in 1959: nine-year-old Mariuzzedda goes to work each morning harvesting olives, then to school, with a grumbling, empty tummy. She begins taking bread on credit at the local bakery, until the day comes when she must pay her debt…

Ad Ipponion (Ode to Hipponion) Run time: 16 min. 2010
Calabria, Italy – Present Day. 15-year-old Vincenzo wants to find a job so he can make enough money to buy a special gift for his girlfriend, Toni. The only work available is dealing drugs… This bittersweet love letter and call to action weaves lines from the eponymous poem by displaced 20th century Calabrian poet Pasquale Enrico Murmura, in a contemporary setting using mostly local non-actors, and was an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner.

Terra sogna terra (Earth Dream earth) Run time: 41 min. 2011
A tender, heartwarming documentary in which Italian immigrants tell the stories of their uprooting and their passion for and bond to the earth/Earth, featuring intimate revelations about the traumas of war and poverty, and the hardships of emigration overseas as well as migration within one’s own country.

A pena do pana trailer: