CORALLARI – CORAL HUNTERS Giovanni Zoppeddu’s documentary screening in Torre del Greco on Wednesday 27 May
The documentary Corallari – Coral Hunters, directed by Giovanni Zoppeddu and distributed by MyCulture Distribution, will be screened on Wednesday 27 May at the Screen 2 of Cinema Corallo (Viale Villa Comunale "Medaglia d'Oro Vincenzo Ciaravolo", Torre del Greco) with two showings: at 18:30 and at 20:45. Director Giovanni Zoppeddu will attend the screenings.
The documentary was made between Sardinia and Torre del Greco, two emblematic places of the Mediterranean’s red gold: the former known for coral fishing, the latter universally regarded as the world capital of coral and cameo craftsmanship.
It is the result of a long project started long ago, with the production and the director carrying out several location visits in Torre del Greco, supported by Assocoral, which acted as a facilitator in identifying the most suitable voices to tell stories, experiences and traditions linked to this extraordinary excellence.
A new way to promote Torre del Greco’s coral and cameo through a documentary that will be screened in different settings, cinemas and national and international digital platforms.
“We were happy to welcome the production to Torre del Greco and to support it in making this documentary” – says Vincenzo Aucella, President of Assocoral, who continues – “I had the pleasure of seeing it in preview, albeit in a not-yet-final version, to check certain aspects. I must say it is a very moving work: a multi-voiced story in which the involvement of many colleagues, each with their own story and experience, manages to convey what for us is not just work, but pure love”.
At the screening, the director and the President of Assocoral, Vincenzo Aucella, will be present and available to the press and the public to answer questions and curiosities about the documentary
The film
Starting with the arrival of the first coral hunter in Sardinia in 1954, Corallari traces the rise of coral fishing in the Mediterranean, following the men who pushed ever deeper in search of red gold. The documentary reveals its human, cultural and environmental cost: dives into the depths, constant danger, the migration routes that for decades connected distant Italian coastal communities. Sardinia and Campania emerge as deeply interconnected cultural spaces, bound by the sea, by work and by a shared history.
Torre del Greco holds a prominent place in the story. It is here that coral brought up from the depths makes its second journey: from seabed to artisan workshops, from raw material to object, to ornament, to symbol. The city represents the historic hub of a supply chain that the film portrays in all its complexity, highlighting trade ties, handed-down know-how and identities built around a resource that is now increasingly fragile.
The documentary is freely based on Storie di Corallari by Ninni Ravazza (Edizioni Magenes) and is shot in 4K format with a running time of 70 minutes.
The director
Giovanni Zoppeddu is a director, screenwriter and director of photography with long experience in documentary filmmaking. He has worked with institutions such as Istituto Luce – Cinecittà, RAI, Rai Cinema, Mediaset and Sky. His previous documentary Diario di Tonnara was selected for the 2018 Rome Film Festival. He also contributed to Anija (La nave), winner of the David di Donatello for Best Documentary. Corallari is, for Zoppeddu, an ideal thematic continuation of that work: if Diario di Tonnara told the story of the sea as seen from the surface, Corallari follows the men who chose to cross it by descending into the abyss.
Production
The film is produced by Terra de Punt, with executive production by Bronx Film, and made with the support of the MIC – Directorate-General for Cinema and Audiovisual, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, the Sardegna Film Commission, the Campania Region and the Campania Film Commission. Cinematography by Edoardo Matacena, editing by Andrea Marras, music and sound design by Marco Messina and Danilo Vigorito.
