As part of the 23rd edition of the Week of the Italian Language in the World (SLIM), Marco Polo – The Italian School of Sydney is organising a screening of the film ‘Veleno – La Terra dei Fuochi’ centred around the theme of “Italian and Sustainability.” This edition of SLIM aims to promote a culture of sustainability championed by a country at the forefront of environmental issues.
The screening will take place on Saturday, October 21, 2023, at 2:00 pm at the CNA premises, 1 Coolatai Crescent Bossley Park NSW 2176. The admission ticket is $5 and includes an afternoon refreshment for attendees. Registration is required, either by sending an email with the number of participants to learning@cnansw.org.au or by calling (02) 8786 0888.
‘Veleno’ is a denunciation film about the devastation of areas contaminated by toxic waste in Campania. Diego Olivares’s film, presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2017, closed as a special event of the Critics’ Week. The work is inspired by a true story.
We are in the Land of Fires, in the outskirts of Caserta: two farmers, Cosimo and Rosaria, struggle daily to keep their livestock and land safe from the poisoning of toxic waste scattered in those lands. Co-owners of the small business are Ezio, Cosimo’s brother, and his wife Adele, parents of three young children.
When Rosaria finally discovers she is expecting a child with Cosimo, the fight to defend the family property becomes a duty. Meanwhile, the pressures from those responsible for “waste disposal” become increasingly insistent. To obtain the plot of land adjacent to illegal dumps that would allow its expansion, Rino Caradonna, a cunning lawyer who aspires to become the town’s mayor, is implicated.
While Ezio and Adele seem inclined to succumb to these pressures, Cosimo and Rosaria’s battle continues until Cosimo discovers he has terminal cancer. Fearing for the future of his wife and unborn child, he decides to sell everything. It is Rosaria who takes matters into her own hands and refuses to be intimidated by threats.
