Mezzogiorno follows two young siblings from Southern Italy at the end of summer, as they face life-altering changes. The short film is a love letter to Salento, a region in Southern Italy surrounded by blue sea and drenched in sunlight. The film is a testimony to this place, which we have fallen completely in love with - and we think you will too. 

With this crowdfund we are asking for your help. Any donation you make, no matter how big or small, will bring us a step closer to creating this film. We invite you to watch our video and read down below why we believe this film is worth your time and donation!

Salento has a rich history and culture, one filled with fascinating mythology, strong women, and an intense connection to the land. Unfortunately, due to the socio-economic condition of the region, this history is being lost, unrecorded, as time passes and the tourist economy takes over. One of our key aims with this film is to record and share parts of this culture. We believe the traditions and stories of Salento, recounted by old women along the seafront and in quiet town squares, provide a significance and depth to contemporary questions of gender, spirituality and place in Italy.

Alongside this, we are interested in exploring the evocative experience of young children, as they move through the world. We are trying to capture a certain tenderness in even the smallest moments,  a sensitivity which moves and evokes. The blue sky in September. The sound of the waves as they wash over the sharp cliffs, again and again. A certain feeling in your chest, while you wait for someone you love. 

WHO WE ARE

Mezzogiorno is being created by a queer, international troupe from Italy, Denmark, England and France. We believe in creating a form of cinema that provides an alternative to patriarchal, capitalist narratives and instead imagines a cinema of proposal, one that is inclusive, feminist and equality based. For us, this is embedded both in our way of working, as well as in the themes, stories and images we portray.

Mezzogiorno is co-written by Marta Specolizzi, Martha Bird and Sarah Bergen. We work closely together with Giacomo Becherucci, who works both as location scout and editor. The director, Marta Specolizzi, is from Salento. For her 2023 New Years resolutions, she set out to capture Salento and its special atmosphere on film, and we need your help!

We have decided to self-produce this film, as we want to see it come to life as soon as possible. We plan to film it in May 2023, which is just around the corner. Donating to this crowdfund is your opportunity to support our work and take part in making this film. It’s special to know that our film will be created by an entire community - us and all of you who support us. We appreciate any donation and can’t wait to share the film with you.

THE STORYLINE

Within the crumbling charm of old villages in Salento, the crystal clear coastline and a sprawling, saturated countryside, lives a slowly fading community, steeped in magical traditions and a rich culture. Salento is a region full of magic and beauty, but its community is also suffering under the weight of socio-economic challenges.

It is against this backdrop that Mezzogiorno is set. We follow the lives of two young siblings, Elia (9) and Silvi (7) in the bittersweetness of their final week of summer before school begins. The pair swim in the sea, follow their young mother in her search for a second job, and most of all, want to break into the mystical, abandoned house at the end of their street. At the end of the week, not only will the house be demolished, but Elia will have to go to a new school after being expelled from his old one.

Elia and Silvi navigate the difficulties of growing up in an area ravaged by a seasonal tourist economy and the agricultural crisis of xylella, a disease that kills the olive trees and ruins Salento’s main export, olive oil. Nonetheless, the two siblings experience deep joy in the late summer sea, their lively village, and most of all, within their friendship as they move through their days, side by side.

FORMAT AND DIRECTION STYLE

Mezzogiorno will last roughly 22 minutes. We will work with non-professional actors, which means we will cast regular people and work with their particular ways of being. Marta Specolizzi's direction style emphasises the physicality of the actors’ bodies as they touch, eat, climb and fall, laugh and yell. Marta works towards a form of hyperrealism, a corporeal and tangible representation of being alive as a child in this fast moving world.

Below, you can see one of Marta and Sarahs earlier works, Che Buffa, La Zia Valeria. This short film is also set in Salento and tells the real life story of Marta's aunt, Valeria. The short film is being screened on the British film festival "Hinterlands" this month.

TIME SCHEDULE

For the previous months we have been working on organising the production of the film while also writing the treatment and screenplay. This has mostly taken the form of Zoom meetings and WhatsApp group calls, but in March we will all be in Italy together, finally able to plan over coffees, spritzes and pasta!

From the 13-24th of March, the core team (Marta, Sarah, Martha, Giacomo) are in Salento scouting locations, casting actors, and organising overall production. You can track our progress if you follow our Instagrams, where we will be posting updates from gorgeous Salento.

From the 20-27th of May, we will return to Salento to shoot the film. This will involve the core team, but also our technical team, which includes our amazing director of photography, Melanie, our sound mixer, Ricardo, and our production crew. 

Once shooting has finished, the post production work (editing, colour correction, soundtrack etc.) will begin! We aim to have this completed by July and if we are able to raise enough funds, we would love to be able to send Mezzogiorno to film festivals.

• 25 March > Screenplay finalised

• 13-24 March > Casting and location scouting in Salento

• 20-27 May > Filming

• June-July > Post-production

BUDGET GOAL: 8200 euros 

Below you can see an overview of how we will use our budget - the calculations have been made in euros.

MEET THE TROUPE

Marta Specolizzi, 23, director

Marta Specolizzi is a young, emerging director from Italy. Her direction style involves a big attention to detail - a rare appreciation for even the smallest moments; a gaze, a movement, a ray of light. She is concerned with giving dignity back to tiny but precious moments, which to her make every day life meaningful. Working with the camera, Marta seeks to follow the physicality of her actors, she wants to see their bodies alive and running and breathing, never static. She employs the same approach to places and believes that her films’ places must always speak for themselves, they must be full of life and history. Marta sees a potential, a beauty, in this world and all of its creatures - from insects to cities. She is an expert in finding places and people that emit life, and this is part of what makes her cinema so special. Marta has directed multiple short films. This spring, she is showing the short film "Aunt Valeria" at Hinterlands Film Festival in the UK and her other short film "Synth Body" is being screened at Bellaria Film Festival in Italy.

Martha Bird, 24, co-creator

Martha Bird is a 24-year-old filmmaker originally from Manchester, England. After graduating from the Art on the Run film school in Berlin, she pursued a Gender Studies Masters in Italy and Spain, enriching her understanding of intersectionality and the power of storytelling. Martha has extensive experience working with film festivals and other cultural, political, and artistic organizations, cementing her belief in the transformative potential of cinema. 

Giacomo Becherucci, 26, editor

Giacomo Becherucci is originally from Florence, Italy and has lived in many cities around Europe. He is 26 years old and is working in freelance film production and editing. After graduating in Film Studies from DAMS University in Bologna with a dissertation on postmodern editing, he attended a post-production course in Bologna. He is passionate about film editing, and has extensive experience in production and location departments on international film projects.

Sarah Bergen, 26, author

Sarah, a 26-year-old writer and filmmaker, has a background in fiction and poetry writing, as well as a degree in gender studies. Her versatile approach to writing and directing has led to four successful projects in the past year, amongst others the short film "Aunt Valeria", which is being screened at the English Film Festival “Hinterlands” this year. Sarah's work is committed to advancing queer politics and  focuses on diversity and inclusion in the arts.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

We are incredibly thankful for whatever support you can offer. Thank you for taking part in this project and making this film come to life!