Sconosciuti puri

Mattia Colombo & Valentina Cicogna
Italy, Switzerland, Sweden | 2023 | 93 min
World premiere
Languages : Italian, English
Subtitles : French, English

The Interreligious Jury awards a prize to a work that highlights questions of meaning and direction in life

The act of burial is a primal human ritual that delimits life from death. But what happens to the corpses of migrant persons drowned at sea, those “pure unknown” who have been denied the possibility of a better life? No one now seems to care about their right to a dignified death. No one except Dr. Cristina Cattaneo, who is bravely and determinedly fighting for their cause.

The act of burial is a primal human ritual that delimits life from death. But what happens to the corpses of anonymous people? Every night, nameless bodies arrive in an autopsy room in Milan. They are called the “Pure Unknown”. The Pure Unknown belong to the margins of society; they might be homeless, sex workers or runaway teenagers. Lately, they have mostly been migrants, thrown up by the Mediterranean Sea onto the shores of Italy.  Having been denied the possibility of a better life, no one now seems to care about their right to a dignified death. No one except Dr. Cristina Cattaneo who, from the first forensic anthropology laboratory in Italy, has been bravely and determinedly fighting for their cause, working night and day to return names to these unidentified bodies and human remains. Filmmakers Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo closely follow this daring and captivating character in her ceaseless struggle, inviting us to reflect on a number of urgent questions about migration to which Europe, tragically, seems unable to respond. 

 

Violeta Bava

Valentina Cicogna
Pure Unknown, 2023
Mattia Colombo
Pure Unknown, 2023
Il posto – A Steady Job, 2022
Openings - Sguardi oltre il limite, 2021
Vite: 3 capitoli per Agedo, 2019
Uninvited: Marcelo Burlon, 2017
Ritmo Sbilenco - Un filmino su Elio e le Storie Tese, 2016
Il passo, 2016
Voglio dormire con te, 2015
Alberi che camminano, 2015
The Veil, 2009
Photography
Jacopo Loiodice
Sound
Simone Paolo OliveroPaolo Benvenuti
Editing
Valentina Cicogna
Music
Zeno Gabaglio
Production
Sebastiano Luca InsingaJump CutChiara NicolettiJump CutAmel SoudaniAmka Films ProductionsNicola BernasconiROUGH CATMario AdamsonSisyfos film

International Feature Film Competition

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