Street in Palermo

Born in Palermo in 1967, Emma Dante explores the theme of family and marginalization through the poetics of tension and folly, not devoid of a hint of humour. Playwright and director, she graduated in Rome in 1990 from the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica "Silvio D'Amico". She acted with Andrea Camilleri, Vittorio Gassman, Nanny Loy and Marcello Mastroianni. She founded the Compagnia Sud Costa Occidentale in Palermo in 1999." The physical place is also the mental place of the film. We shot in Palermo, in a real street, via Castellana Bandiera, where I lived for many years until very recently. We added some sets elements amongst which a wall which on one side marked the boundary of the cul-de-sac of the street. That wall slowly opens up little by little, making the street gradually wider. Changes are barely visible when they are seen in sequence, but bit by bit you end up blatantly noticing that the street has widened. Although the space broadens, asserting the possibility of dispelling the jam and proceed, the behaviour of the characters does not change. For them, a wide or a narrow street is the same thing, because the obstacle is in their minds and not budging is a matter of principle. Between a documentary and a dream, I imagined another place where to take shelter in my Palermo: an intimate, familiar and revealing place. This place, this "elsewhere", is very close to us, it involves us as eye witness. "Emma Dante