FRIDAY 21 NOV – H 21:00 – ROOM 1

LA PIZZICA DI ROMOLO CRUDO
ITALY – 2025 – color – 55’

Direction: Tommaso Faggiano
Screenplay: Francesco De Giorgi, Tommaso Faggiano
Cinematography: Tommaso Faggiano
Editing: Francesco De Giorgi
Music: Samuel Mele
Sound: Michele Leucci
With: Romolo Crudo, Emanuela Crudo
Producer: Lino Pepe
Executive production: Meditfilm
Distribution: Luoghi e visioni, Meditfilm

Synopsis
Southern Italy – Salento. Romolo Crudo has a passion: dancing the Pizzica. It is the folk dance of his homeland, the cultural heartbeat of his childhood, and he has never stopped dancing it since he was a child. He is on a pop-culture mission, and now that he has discovered social media, he feels he may really become someone. His wife and daughter follow share his passion, following him through the squares of Salento, until one phone call seems to open the doors to fame. But something goes wrong, and Romolo is forced to choose between saving his family or continuing to pursue his dream of celebrity.

director’s statement
“La pizzica di Romolo Crudo is a film filled with Mediterranean flavor that tells us how the traditional Pizzica dance has evolved and how it is experienced in the private life of a humble family from Salento. Another valuable element that emerges from this work is the understanding of how body language, in this case the choreographic cycle of the courtship Pizzica, is intrinsically connected to the dancer’s inner world—their social and family context—and their relationship with the world around them. Dance, therefore, is not only physical liberation but also an unconscious expression of one’s being.”

world premiere