La terra buona [The Good Place]

Emanuele Caruso, 2018

La terra buona (The Good Place)
(Italy, 2018, 110 min.)
In ITALIAN with ENGLISH subtitles

Directed by Emanuele Caruso
Written by Emanuele Caruso and Marco Domenicale

Starring Lorenzo Pedrotti, Fabrizio Ferracane, Viola Sartoretto, Cristian Di Sante

Followed by a Q&A with director Emanuele Caruso

The film is inspired by true events. The largest wilderness zone in Europe can be found in Val Grande, an Italian area of 60 square miles close to Switzerland. There is no trace of humans, no roads, no villages, and no street lights. But someone actually lives hidden among that immaculate nature: Father Sergio, a Benedictine monk in his 80s, who has been living for 40 years in a lodge that he restored. With Father Sergio lives Gianmaria, a mild-mannered little man who helps him with everything.

One day, Gianmaria returns from the nearest village with food supplies and with a boy and a girl, who are visibly exhausted after the 4-hour walk from the village. Strangely, they have not come to see the old monk but another person who has been secretely living there for over a month. Now their arrival will put the peace and serenity of one of the last Italian paradises at risk.

Obiettivo Cinema is an Italian production and distribution company of independent films that was founded in Alba, Italy, in 2012 by director and producer Emanuele Caruso. The Good Ground is the second feature film produced and distributed by Obiettivo Cinema. It was shot in two of Piedmont’s valleys: Val Maira near France and Val Grande near Switzerland. A good part of the film’s budget was raised online with a royalty-based crowdfunding campaign on an Italian platform called “produzioni dal basso.” Made with the very low budget of 195.000 euros, The Good Ground was released in Italian theatres on March 1, 2018, becoming a national cinematic event with over 50.000 tickets sold, earning 300.000 euros at the box office.

From the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo.