My Place Is Here

Brescia, March 2020. The Spedali Civili, the town’s public hospital, suddenly finds itself overwhelmed with ill people infected by a previously unknown virus. For 30 days, Michele Aiello becomes the special witness to the health crisis and modestly films the unprecedented and indispensable relationships that unite the patients and healthcare staff. Protected by masks, separated by screens, the nurses and the ill become closer through the hardship. A delicate exercise in observation, which precisely captures the work of the carers and resolutely places the film within the direct cinema tradition. Above all, My Place Is Here is a film that asserts the humanity that permeates relationships within the hospital, a moving immersion in a day-to-day marked by the empathy and dedication of the healthcare personnel. Even if it is painful at times—we empathise with sick people’s fears—Michele Aiello brings an intimate dimension to this slice of raw reality, far removed from voyeurism, from heroic apology or from the usual anxiety-inducing media representation. 

Javier Martín