Archive of films Sonetàula / Sonetàula

Italy / France / Belgium
2008, 157 min

Section: Horizons
Year: 2008

The father of Sonetàula, a twelve-year-old shepherd, is wrongfully imprisoned between the world wars. Later, when the young man cuts the hooves of a flock of sheep in an act of defiance, he himself becomes an outlaw. The film, with its atmosphere of inner restlessness, is embellished by focused work with mise en scène.

Synopsis

When twelve-year-old Sonetàula’s father is wrongfully imprisoned, the boy takes over the flock of sheep they tend. After being insulted by a rival, the boy takes revenge by cutting the hooves of the offender’s herd, and when the police come he escapes into the mountains, opting for an outlaw’s life. As time goes by and the crimes mount, it becomes increasingly clear as the boy becomes a man that he will never be able to return to the society he grew up in, and will thus be unable fully to comprehend the transformations that occur within it. The carefully composed film set in Sardinia, starring a non-professional actor in the title role, is an example of the line of cinematography in which the story of the “little guy” is engulfed by the march of history. It is the emphasis on one central character that makes Sonetàula a focused work which, given the passage of time spanning more than ten years, can be described as an “intimate epic”. The outwardly calm but internally tense film reflects the rhythm of the lives of the protagonists, who are moulded by the environment in which they live.

About the director

Salvatore Mereu (b. 1965, Dorgali, Sardinia) studied film at the University of Bologna, and directing at the Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, where he graduated in 1997. The two short films he made during his studies, Prima della fucilazione and Miguel, were screened at the festivals in Locarno, Turin and Annecy, among others. He debuted in feature-length film with Three Step Dancing (Ballo a tre passi, 2003), which was screened at the Venice IFF and competed in the Rotterdam Festival. His debut, which Karlovy Vary audiences also had the opportunity to see, won Mereu the David di Donatello Award for Best New Director. His second film, Sonetàula, in its interest in ordinary characters, ties in to the tradition of Neorealism. In recent years Mereu has also been working as a secondary school teacher.

Contacts

Celluloid Dreams
2, rue Turgot, 75009, Paris
France
Tel: +33 149 700 370
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.celluloid-dreams.com

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About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Horizons

Director:	Salvatore Mereu
Screenplay:	Salvatore Mereu podle románu / based on the novel by Guiseppe Fiori
Dir. of Photography:	Vittorio Omodei Zorini, Vladan Radovic, Ivan Casalgrandi, Massimo Foletti
Music:	Enzo Favata
Editor:	Paola Freddi
Producer:	Andrea Occhipinti, Gianluca Arcopinto
Production:	Lucky Red
Cast:	Francesco Falchetto, Manuela Martelli, Antonio Crisponi, Serafino Spiggia, Giuseppe “Peppeddu” Cuccu, Lazar Ristovsky, Giselda Volodi
Contact:	Celluloid Dreams

Guests

Salvatore Mereu

Film Director, Film Director

Serena Mazzi

Film Institution Rep.

Silvana Tucci

Film Institution Rep.