Musikì! On Monday 19 August, from sunset until late into the night, Piazza San Nicola in Corigliano d’Otranto will be transformed into an open-air cinema to showcase the sounds and images of the most daring, intriguing and inventive cinema one can see and hear. Musikì, organised under the artistic direction of Paolo Pisanelli and the creative coordination of Francesco Maggiore, is a festival presenting documentaries and films accompanied by live music, telling stories of the past and present through sonic journeys and cinematic visions that traverse the various regions of Southern Italy and the Mediterranean. Venturing into Basilicata and the Balkans, the festival tackles civil, religious and social themes through cinema and music, telling stories of men and women to reflect on work, migration, political and social realities, and baroque visions and inventions.
“One cannot live without music!” said the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who explored its Dionysian side. Music serves to live, heal, love, work, welcome, protest and fight. Music and cinema possess a revolutionary power: they can awaken the soul and the body; they can recount the tales and songs of a region; they can make people dance and set them free.
The event begins at 8.30 pm, just after sunset, with percussion by Giovanni Martella, musician and founder of Circular Music – a project promoting traditional West African music – which will accompany the images from LAC – Mirco Santi’s ‘Laboratorio di Animazione Cromatica’, a production by Home Movies and Cinema del Reale, a collective film created by adults and children who coloured frames of transparent 16 mm film one by one.
Among the tributes to folk singers is one to Vituccio di Villa Castelli, Vito Nigro, a goat herder by trade and one of the most representative figures of Apulian folk tradition. The programme includes a screening of *VITUCCIO E LA TARANTA*, a scene taken from a film currently in production that tells the story of the songs of the ‘South of the South’.
During the evening, MUSIKÌ will be screened – a collaborative film produced as part of the seminar ‘Filmare la musica e il territorio’ (Filming Music and the Territory), a workshop for young filmmakers led by Paolo Pisanelli in 2009. It is a journey through places and people, music and the exceptional soundscapes of Grecìa Salentina.
The collaboration between Cinema del reale and AAMOD continues, the Audiovisual Archive of the Workers’ and Democratic Movement, with the screening of *METAPONTO: THE TOBACCO ROAD*, a 1967 film by Libero Bizzarri that recounts the journey of a family of Salento farmers to the countryside of Metaponto, a town in Basilicata, where tobacco was the main source of income. Following the screening, Gino Giannachi, one of the documentary’s protagonists, will speak.
Among the films on the programme is *MAKARÌA* by Giulia Attanasio, a tribute to Enza Magnolo, a musician and singer of extraordinary talent who brings together the experiences, voices and legacy of the Salento musical tradition and embarks on a fascinating musical journey, one we wish had lasted much longer.
Dances, music and rituals linked to tarantism are the theme of *VIAGGI NELLE TERRE DEL RIMORSO* (Journeys Through the Lands of Remorse), a montage of images and sounds drawn from documentaries which, from the 1950s onwards, have explored the phenomenon of healing rites for the ‘bite of the taranta’ and supported the ethno-anthropological research of which Ernesto De Martino was one of the leading figures. The film forms part of the exhibition of the same name, staged between the Tabaccaia del Castello and the village of Corigliano d’Otranto, and open to visitors until 27 October.
The film’s rhythm and musicality will be provided by the sound experiments of Giovanni Bisanti – on guitar, vocals and synthesiser – and Gabriele Vizzi on bass.
“Marinae. Stories of women at the edge of a land” by Rachele Andrioli is a musical journey guided by women’s voices, affirming the identity of women who share their daily lives but who, at the same time, to foster a sense of sisterhood aimed at inclusion and the healing of wounds through the voice, thereby becoming protagonists of cultural productions that reach beyond the ordinary horizon.
The festival concludes with the promo POLAROID POLAROID, a work in progress by Paolo Pisanelli with music by Admir Shkurtaj, which recounts, through images from a photo reportage shot in March 1991, the arrivals in the ports of Brindisi and Otranto of thousands of people from Albania. The weary yet happy faces of that time are reflected in the faces of today’s Albanians, who have lived through their country’s profound transformations.
From 5 pm to 10 pm on the same day, visitors can view the exhibition “Journeys through the Lands of Remorse”, a display spread across the castle and the village of Corigliano d’Otranto which retraces, through photographs and film footage, published documents and contemporary reinterpretations, the adventure of ethno-anthropological research into tarantism, alongside the stories of the women and men who lived through it. The exhibition will be open daily until 27 October, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.00 to 22.00 (info: 351 9137972)
The project, conceived and organised by Big Sur, Cinema del reale and Officinavisioni, in collaboration with SEI – Sud Est Indipendente, forms part of the Apulia CineFestival Network 2024 with the support of the Puglia Region and the Apulia Film Commission.
The event forms part of the programme for ‘Borgo Volante’, a project by the Municipal Council of Corigliano d’Otranto, supported by the Ministry of Culture – Development and Cohesion Fund, which, building on the experience gained in recent years at the Castello Volante, aims to transform the village into a hub of creativity through the establishment of ‘workshops for cultural production’ and a programme of artist residencies, workshops and events that engage the local area and its residents.
