ITALY

2020  – color – 62’

Direction: Luciano Toriello

Screenplay: Luciano Toriello

Cinematography: Luciano Toriello

Editing: Luciano Toriello

Music: Riccardo Giagni

Sound Mix: Matteo Lugara

Cast: Antonietta Clemente, Marco Di Sabato, Mario Battista, Loredana Iannantuono, Simone Battista, Gianni Battista, Christian Hdiouech, Nicoletta Carbonaro, Priscilla Lopez

Production: Fondazione Apulia Film Commission, Fondazione con il Sud

SYNOPSIS

Being a father is one of the most difficult tasks a man can undertake. But how much more complex is parenting from behind the bars of a prison? Furthermore, what becomes of detainees’ children, who are painfully deprived of the daily physical presence of their father figures and are likely to imitate bad role models? What are their emotional and educational needs? Filmed both within the walls of the Correctional Facility in the town of Lucera and inside the detainees’ family homes, La luce dentro is a story of individual awareness and desire for change that brings parents and children together in a journey in which everyone thinks – or rethinks – of themselves both as an individual and as a part of a community.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“When I first met Simone and Gianni, the two children who then became the film’s protagonists, I realised that they had difficulty communicating with their father: when you haven’t seen someone for a long time, even a close family member, you will inevitably have problems in relating to them, in catching up on your lives. The two kids told me that they were not allowed to bring toys, paintings or crayons into the prison. This made me think about how difficult it is, for both parties, to take care of their emotional and affective needs, and how complex it is, for a father, to play his key educational role from behind bars.”

PREMI E FESTIVAL/ AWARDS AND FESTIVALS

Anno manifestazione -sezione: premi