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FILMS Italy

Papaleo’s directorial debut Basilicata Coast to Coast a road movie musical

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Take a handful of musicians on a coast-to-coast walking trip; a bored, small-town journalist forced to follow them; a beautiful, rarely seen landscape; a horse and cart; and a series of strange encounters. The elements for laughter should be all be there (and they are). Yet Basilicata Coast to Coast [+see also:
trailer
interview: Rocco Papaleo
film profile
]
, the directorial debut of 50-year-old actor Rocco Papaleo, is not just a simple comedy.

The film, "the realization of a dream" for Papaleo, is a road movie musical about a picaresque crossing of Basilicata, from the Tyrrhenian to the Ionian Sea, to a Theatre-Song Festival in Scanzano Jonico. By going on this 10-day "walk" each of the protagonists, in his or her own way, will find their path in life. With results that are more or less bitter.

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Supported by a strong and colorful cast – flanking Papaleo are Alessandro Gassman, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Paolo Briguglia and, for the first time on the big screen, singer-songwriter Max Gazzè - Basilicata Coast to Coast shows a southern Italy that has been forgotten in part. And in particular a region that, as it’s said ironically in the beginning of the film, many believe is just a myth ("Basilicata is like God: You believe in it or you don’t”).

"I didn’t want to show a documentary-like Basilicata", said Papaleo, who comes from the region, "but the one of my childhood memories. It was the 70s and young people had thousands of urges and a desire for change". The land itself is contradictory, with its expanses of canyons and modern windmills, just like the unlikely local “dons” on horseback (and a motorcycle helmet) offer counterpoint to the open-mindedness of several female characters.

The film makes various references (a 3-way dance recalls Jules et Jim) and tributes (to Carlo Levi, the renowned writer from Basilicata, and Gian Maria Volonté, who so magnificently portrayed him onscreen). It also shows that often personal crises can be resolved through an encounter, a change. But that certain pain is never forgotten. Which explains an ending that could seem predictable, yet is not.

Basilicata Coast to Coast – the first film to be produced by Eagle Pictures (also distributing), in collaboration with Paco Cinematografica – is being released on April 9 on 150 screens.

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(Translated from Italian)

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