The Plot
Unexpected encounters can suddenly change our life journey - across borders, across the sea. In a moment, different worlds meet, connect, evolve.
Leonardo comes from the small, yet vibrant island of Procida. Surrounded by his family and friends, his life is tranquil and defined by the sea. Like many before him, he makes his living aboard ships.
Georgia is a young, Italian-American woman who harbors a life-long attraction to Italy and all things Italian. By chance, she and Leonardo meet. A relationship is born.
Happy and unhappy events lead to Georgia’s travel to Procida. The island’s millennial history and lifestyle fascinate her. She learns much about its women from whom she will find the strength to face her future.
'No Man is an Island'
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
(John Donne)
Why Procida?
THE UNIQUENESS OF PROCIDA,
THE ISLAND WHERE OUR STORY IS SET
Our story is deeply rooted in the culture of a small, seafaring island in the bay of Naples. Unlike its neighboring islands, Capri and Ischia, Procida is an island which, because of its shipbuilding and seafaring activity, did not rely on tourism for its economic wellbeing. More recently, however, with the old shipyards that have not converted to steam propulsion, and seafaring being greatly reduced because of the competition from the far East, the local inhabitants are gradually turning to tourism, not without fear of losing their precious cultural heritage.
This state of affairs led Federico Siniscalco to work on a documentary that would highlight this situation. In the process he dug into the local history, and became aware of the island’s fascinating past and lifestyles. He soon realized that due to their seafaring jobs many men spent months and months away from home, as the women stayed behind and looked after the family’s everyday needs. Sometimes these long separations were extremely taxing on marital relationships. In many cases, the sailors became involved with women in foreign countries and occasionally would go as far as setting up new families abroad.
As a production group, we believe these stories need to be told, but doing so through a documentary appeared to be limiting. A fictional structure promises to be far more engaging for the audience, yet we want to maintain a significant level of realism, as we feel this is important to the kind of story we want to tell.
What is so special about our movie?
ADOPTING A DOCUMENTARY CINEMA APPROACH
TO TELL A FICTIONAL STORY
To achieve said level of realism we decided to adopt a documentary cinema approach, especially for the sections of the film to be shot in Procida: hand held cameras, no lighting, a minimal crew. This small-scale production seems congenial as it will also enable us to use some of the local people as the talent; people who know the island’s culture well, and can give credibility to the story.