ABULIVIA (eng. sub.)

Abulivia is a neologism that means "away from the olive trees".
Since Italy was unified, things have not been very good for the south of the nation.
It has been plundered of all its wealth and has gradually become the poorest area of the country.
So for about 160 years many people have been seeking fortune in the rich north of Italy where they are sometimes exploited, but abandoning their beautiful homeland.

Abulivia wants to tell the story of one of these guys from the south, who returned to his country of origins to help his family in the traditional olives harvest that takes place every year in the months from november to january.
The protagonist of the story is a high school graduate, a multiple graduate and has even attended very expensive masters, but in the northern Italy the only job he has found is in a call center. The visit to his native land will represent a catharsis for him,
as it is in his agricultural work that he will discover his roots and the beauty of a lost world in which there are still values.

All the storytelling revolves around emptiness, void understood both in the Buddhist sense but also in the sense of lack of values.
A sad man stares at a large hole in the ground, it is all that remains of a beautiful tree with immense foliage that stood there the day before.
The old farmer tells the camera how a monumental olive tree was stolen by bad people who sell all the trees in the south to the north,
The farmer tried to defend the tree but the bad guys beat him.
They then resold the olive tree to wealthy gentlemen who live in the north and wanted to beautify their garden.
But we know the climate of the north is not suitable for this type of trees so they are doomed to death, while the south is increasingly impoverished.

  • MICHELE PINTO
    Director
    webseries BISHONNEN, webseries, PROJECT M, webseries IN VINO VERITAS
  • FRANCESCO TAMMACCO
    Writer
  • FELICE CAIATI
    Producer
  • FRANCESCO TAMMACCO
    Key Cast
  • FELICE ALTOMARE
    Key Cast
  • ROSA TARANTINO
    Key Cast
  • ILARIA DAVVANZO
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    29 minutes 17 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 11, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    4,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    4k
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • CUSCO WEB FEST
    CUSCO
    Peru
    Official Selection
  • OLIO OFFICINA
    MILANO
    Italy
    March 2, 2023
  • PREMIO SHINEMA
    NAPOLI
    Italy
    Official Selection
Director Biography - MICHELE PINTO

Michele Pinto (1975) is an apulian director, film editor and an educator to the audio-visual language.
He graduated in law with a thesis on constitutional rights on freedom of expression and censorship.
He has attended several workshop with many important filmakers like Abbas Kiarostami o awarded DOP like Vittorio Storaro.
He has taught film language in dozens of schools of every order and degree in his region and at the Academy of Cinema for young students of Bari.
In 2000 created his Independent film company MORPHEUS EGO and started to join with large theater companies like actor or director in multimedial shows.
He has been involved in numerous television productions. He worked in a famous apulian disco as a videojoker for 3 years, experimenting with various forms of visual expression, and using video as a means of growth for children with disabilities or with children at risk in hospitals or schools.
In the last years he shooted about 200 videonews for the web and three important webseries landed on TV.
Most important and awarded works in almost 20 years of career:
2019: GARGANO FAIRY TALES an anthropological documentary produced by ISTITUTO LUCE CINECITTA', awarded at at Asia Web Awards 2019 as the best documentary;
2018: IN VINO VERITAS a webseries about the mistery of wine in the mankind's history. Winner of the BEST DIRECTOR AWARD at ASIA WEB AWARDS 2018; winner of the MEDITERRANEAN AWARD at SICILY WEB FEST 2018;
2017: SONS OF MOTHER EARTH: a docufiction about xylella virus in Apulia;
2016-PROJECT M sciencefiction webseries about a distopic world where every artisti s only a criminal.
2015- “TAMA KELEN a teaching journey: a docufiction shooted with 15 refugees asylum seekers of SPRAR project from Mali, Gambia, Nigeria ecc.
2012/2015 – Sciencefiction webseries “BISHONNEN” (2 seasons) – an interactive series about the dramatic theme of violence against women, faced with an original point of view. Infact is the story of a stalker that is a time traveller.
2011 - “CROSSROADS” shortfilm about safety road.
2010 – “CALL ME” the first apulian webseries, funded with money from the Apulia region and Italian Government .
2008 – “MY SON IS A TREE” ecological shortmovie shooted in Bari, Rome and Milan.

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