Li and the poet
Shun Li works in a textile factory in the outskirts of Rome in order to get her papers and enable her eight-year-old son to come to Italy.
She is suddenly transferred to Chioggia, a small city-island in the Veneto lagoon, to work as a bartender in a pub. Bepi, a Slavic fisherman, nicknamed “the Poet” by his friends, has been a regular at that little pub for years.
Their encounter is a poetic escape from solitude, a silent dialogue between cultures that are different, yet not more distant. It is an odyssey into the deep heart of a lagoon, which can be both the mother and cradle of identities, which never keep still. But the friendship between Shun Li and Bepi upsets both the Chinese and local communities, who interfere with this new voyage, which they are perhaps simply too afraid of.
Credits
Italy – France, 2011 – ’92
Direction and Concept: Andrea Segre
Screenplay: Marco Pettenello and Andrea Segre
Photography: Luca Bigazzi
Editing: Sara Zavarise
Original Music: François Couturier
General Organizer: Nicola Rosada
Live Sound Recording: Alessandro Zanon
Sets: Leonardo Scarpa
Assistant Director: Cinzia Castania
Casting: Jorgelina Depretis
Costumes: Maria Rita Barbera
Script Supervisors: Gina Neri
With: Zhao Tao, Rade Sherbedgia, Marco Paolini, Roberto Citran, Giuseppe Battiston
Produced by: Francesco Bonsembiante JoleFilm ( Italy )
in co-production with: Francesca Feder, AEternam Films (France )
in collaboration with: Rai Cinema
in co-production with: Arte France Cinéma
Prizes And Screenings
AstiFilmFestival – Best film, Best actress (Zhao Tao), City of Asti Award to Giuseppe Battiston
SulmonaCinema
MedFilmFestival winner of the Amore and Psiche Award (Official Competition)
Umbria International Film Festival – Popoli e Religioni – Special Mention by the Jury
Festival del Cine Europeo de Sevilla – Eurimages Award
BFI London Film Festival – SatyajitRay Award
FICE Award (Federazione Italiana Cinema d’Essai) as best Italian debut 2011
International Film Festival 2011 – Special Mention by the Jury
68th Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia – Fedic Award, Lanterna Magica Award, Lina Mangiacapre Award
