Skip to main content

In the Shadow of a Volcano

An encounter with a legendary director at Italy’s film restoration powerhouse set her on a course for a life in cinema. 

Born in 1979 in Torino, home to the National Museum of Cinema, Gaia Russo Frattasi’s first love was theater. She pursued this passion at the University of Torino. After graduating with a degree in theater history, she discovered L’Ipotesi Cinema, a series of workshops featuring industry professionals and hosted by Italy’s film restoration powerhouse Cineteca Bologna. After attending a workshop taught by veteran director Ermanno Olmi, she decided to change her focus from theater to cinema. Shortly thereafter, she made the documentary “Miriam – Variazioni” about a popular Torino nightclub act. The short film premiered at the 2005 Torino Film Festival and was awarded Best Film or Video.

 

Russo Frattasi has honed her craft over the years, making numerous videos and documentaries with her production company, Moby Film. A few years ago, while accompanying her friend on a research assignment at a weather station on Stromboli, an island dominated by an active volcano, she met her future protagonist, Carolina. The elementary school teacher was selling ceramic art made by her students to raise money for her association, "Scuola in mezzo al mare" (School in the Middle of the Sea). In particular, they needed to buy a satellite dish for remote learning. The story struck the young filmmaker, and that’s when her next project began.  

 

The resulting 2019 documentary, “Scuola in mezzo al mare,” is an enchanting and insightful film that follows Carolina in her quest to provide a comprehensive learning experience for the children of Stromboli while keeping their parents from pursuing education off the island. The documentary features long, uninterrupted shots of life as it plays out, with candid conversations among parents about the benefits of raising their children on the island versus the downsides of growing up in extreme isolation.

“Before doing the actual shooting, I was on the island several times alone with my camera to interview the inhabitants and understand how their life worked, from education, to services, to the relationship with nature, to depopulation,” Russo Frattasi explains in an interview with Fra Noi.

 

After securing funding for the film, she put together a small crew. She chose two women — cinematographer Sabina Bologna and sound engineer Sonia Portuguese — because she felt an all-female crew would be more sensitive to the people’s plight. Her goal was to spotlight the challenges of operating an education system in the shadow of a volcano that erupts about 20 times a day.

 

The film documents the harsh weather changes on the island and their impact on its residents. “Despite the paradisiac summer facade, every winter the community experiences loneliness and isolation. The school often remains closed, and the island inexorably depopulates,” Russo Frattasi explains. 


Watch a few clips from our interview...



The documentary sheds light on the lack of services many Italian territories face due to the massive movement toward large urban centers. Russo Frattasi’s message is that we need to foster a deep relationship with nature and to rediscover ourselves as integral to the ecosystem in which we are immersed. “Nature is not to be seen as an obstacle, but with us as guests,” she says. “We need to ask ourselves if, and how, a life is possible outside the big city.”


The film concludes with a touching and dramatic scene of the students making their way up Mount Stromboli to explore the terrain. They talk among themselves about their fears of living so close to an active volcano, standing over it in amazement as it begins to rumble. Russo Frattasi says that shooting the scene was as incredible as watching it. “We reached the top around sunset time. There was a lot of wind. We almost couldn't keep the camera still on the tripod. The ash rose copiously, and we had to clean the lenses all the time. Shooting while the volcano erupts is an indescribable emotion.”

 

Click here to watch "Scuola in mezzo al mare" with English subtitles on Amazon. To watch more of Russo Frattasi’s work, visit her Vimeo channel at vimeo.com/gaiarussofrattasi.


- Written by Jeannine Guilyard for the January, 2023 edition of Fra Noi Magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Federico Fellini: A Look into the Life and Career of an Icon

A Fellini family portrait  “The term became a common word to describe something on the surface you can say is bizarre or strange, but actually is really like a painter working on a film,” said Martin Scorsese when asked to define “Felliniesque,” an adjective inspired by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The oldest of three children, Federico Fellini was born in the seaside town of Rimini in 1920. His father was a traveling salesman, so his mother was left to do the bulk of raising the children. One can argue that Fellini was born for his destiny. “You could tell that even as a child, he was different and unique. He was very intelligent, well above average. He was always the one to organize things, direct the others, make up games. He could control the other kids with just a look, said Fellini’s sister, Maddalena, in an interview with journalist Gideon Bachmann.  Not only was Fellini directing the children, but he was also putting on shows and charging ...

'Salvatore Giuliano' blends documentary realism with dramatic storytelling

"Salvatore Giuliano" is a 1962 Italian crime drama directed by Francesco Rosi that dramatizes the real-life events surrounding the life and death of the legendary Sicilian bandit and folk hero. Giuliano rose to notoriety after the liberation of Sicily from fascist control in 1943, when he formed a gang that joined a separatist army. When the army dissolved, he and his gang intensified their outlaw activities. One of their most significant crimes was the Portella della Ginestra incident, during which dozens of men, women, and children were killed or wounded. This act prompted the authorities to launch an all-out war against Giuliano. His defenses slowly crumbled, and on July 5, 1959, his body was discovered in the courtyard of a house in Castelvetrano. That moment serves as the starting point for Rosi's film. Giuliano's fame is tied to his involvement in the Sicilian independence movement and his battles against both the Italian government and the Mafia in the 1940s a...

The Timeless Talent of Stefania Sandrelli

On screen since the tender age of 14, she has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with a compelling combination of strength and vulnerability. She achieved stardom at just 14 years old playing the angelic cousin of a love-struck Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style.” More than half a century later, she is still going strong and remains one of Italy’s most esteemed actors. Stefania Sandrelli was born on June 5, 1946, in Viareggio in the province of Lucca in northern Italy. As a child, she studied music and dance. Then in 1960, she won a beauty pageant and was featured on the cover of Le Ore magazine. Her purity captivated the country and shortly thereafter, movie offers began pouring in. Just one year later, she made her cinema debut in three feature films: Mario Sequi’s Gioventù di notte , Luciano Salce’s The Fascist, and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style . She instantly became a star and before long was a key figure in Italy’s legend...

Gianfranco Rosi to premiere 'Sotto le nuvole' at Venice Film Fest, exploring Naples' history

Documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi will premiere his much-anticipated latest film at the upcoming 82nd Venice International Film Festival , which runs August 27 - Sept. 6. "Sotto le nuvole" (Below the Clouds)  takes a deep dive into the rich history and culture of Naples and the area surrounding Mount Vesuvius. There has not been much information revealed but so far, we know that the film will focus on themes similar to those explored by Rosi in his previous works, such as the examination of Roman culture in "Sacro GRA" (2013) and Lampedusa's refugee crisis in "Fuocoammare" (2016).  The film's synopsis reads, “The land around Vesuvius is a vast palimpsest. On the surface, underground and even beneath the sea of the modern city of Naples and its surroundings, the memory of history is etched into tunnels, walls and fissures, the remains of women, children and men — statues, buried cities. Only thin layers separate contemporary and ancient life, an...

"Roma 11:00" – The Tragic True Story of Desperation in a World of Poverty

There couldn’t have been a more perfect couple than Lucia Bosè and Raf Vallone in Giuseppe De Santis’ 1952 “Roma 11:00.”  A tragic story based on true events, the film follows several young women in post-WWII Rome as they answer a job listing for a typist. When 200 women are in line on one staircase over several floors, a crack leads to the collapse of the entire staircase. Dozens were injured and one was killed. The tragedy spoke to the poverty and desperation that existed for so many Italians in the early 1950s before the ‘58 industrial boom began.  Cesare Zavattini was one of the screenwriters. Elio Petri was the assistant director who interviewed many of the victims and cast a few in supporting roles. In addition to Bosè and Vallone, the film stars Carla Del Poggio, Massimo Girotti, Maria Grazia Francia, Lea Padovani and Delia Scala. The film is set in Largo Circense 37, while in reality the collapse took place in via Savoia 31, in the Salario district, on J...