Etnoragù l’incontro di civiltà di Cristiano Esposito

"Etnoragù” is a short film by Cristiano Esposito, funded by the Campania Region, the Campania Region Film Commission, and POC Campania 2014-20. It premieres in Naples on Tuesday, November 19, at 6:15 PM at the 'La Perla' cinema, Via Nuova Agnano 35. Presented by Giuseppe Borrone.

“To narrate is to create,” said Fernando Pessoa. Telling stories recreates reality, revealing new faces of it. It’s a powerful and difficult act. Like narrating Naples. This is the essence of "Etnoragù," a short film by Cristiano Esposito produced by Coop.Ar.Tu.Ro thanks to the Campania Region, the Campania Region Film Commission, POC Campania 2014-2020, Coldiretti Napoli, Teatro Serra, Procida Wi-Fi, and Lega Navale. Starring Salvatore Misticone, Stefania Ventura, Pietro Tammaro, Amedeo Colella, Carolina Infante, Alessandro Incerto. Music by Mario Fasciano. Editing by Film Edit. The premiere is in Naples on Tuesday, November 19, at 6:15 PM at the La Perla cinema, in Via Nuova Agnano 35. Presented by Giuseppe Borrone.

The cast also includes Mauro Palumbo and Tommaso Scotto di Uccio as performers, director of photography Franco La Muro, assistant director Vincenzo Fortunato, cameramen Paolo La Muro and Luigi Esposito, editing by Nadir Kamberi, sets by Michele Lubrano Lavadera, costumes by Patrizia Barone, and makeup by Ilenia Lubrano di Marzaiuolo.

“Assigning a name to a place means setting its boundaries, but this city evokes a multiplicity of senses that refer to a culture,” says the director. “The story shows the dual nature of the city: a unique feeling of hospitality in the world and a pronounced sense of identity. It is also the drama of a man who sees the small certainties that make his existence cozy and secure shatter.” Imagined for the 2013 Forum of Cultures, it’s a story of love and tolerance set between Naples and Procida, which has already been praised by critics, winning the 2024 editions of the New York Movie Awards in the Best Shorts category and the International Audiovisual Market in Rome, as Best International Director and Best Screenplay Short.

The protagonists are Assunta and Giovanni, an elderly couple of traditional and devout spouses, whose routine is disrupted by their daughter, an archaeologist in the Holy Land, converted to Islam and engaged to an older colleague. A symbol of the certainties of a life that crumbles is the Sunday ragù, which suddenly loses ‘the little hen’ and ‘the pork rib’ and with them, the reassuring flavors on which their relationship is founded. Even in the essence of a short film narrative, the storytelling moves on multiple planes; the clash of civilizations at its center features family rituals and a different view of the city, far from the clichés of ‘crime and underworld,' sometimes evoked as endemic and primordial, demolished, not coincidentally, through two of the most famous Neapolitan icons: gastronomy and religious devotion. Step by step, encouraged by his wife, Giovanni will change many of his habits for the love of his daughter, culminating on the wedding day, when he orchestrates a small revenge that plays, narratively, with ‘Gomorrah’-style stereotypes.

“I believe that one of the strengths that will make the film beloved is precisely the unpredictable outcome, which will force the audience to question why a bloody ending is always expected when talking about Naples,” concludes the author.

Contacts: Cristiano Esposito, cristiano@procida.tv, 339.3306184
Press Office: Simona Pasquale, simona.pasquale@gmail.com, 334.3224441
Web: www.facebook.com/cinemalaperla