Private Project

Caina

Caina passes her nights on a beach where she practices the rather particular profession of body hunter. Her job entails recuperating the corpses of drowned foreigners that the sea spits onto the shore. The stranded bodies are then dissolved into cement in a state run disposal facility. Caina earns 15 euros for each drowned cadaver. She can hear the dead speak, express fear and cry. Caina was a hired killer in the past, a cold hearted, contemptuous killer who specialized in immigrants. Her xenophobic soul is violent and in possession of a visceral hatred for anything foreign to her race, her skin color and especially her religion. Caina is the embodiment of the stereotypical fears of those who view Islam harshly. Caina is a sort of high priestess of death spreading her gospel to suspended cadavers, and who sometimes respond and occasionally appear as ghosts who she humanizes only because they no longer hold the status of human being. Nahiri, a Tunisian, is also a body hunter, though an illegal one. He works with a group of other illegal immigrants as they troll the shoreline stealing the cadavers of drowned immigrants. They then sell the bodies under the table to the State Disposal Facility with the cooperation of Signora Ziviello, the elderly plant manager who has dealings with the underworld. Signora Ziviello is a sort of female Eichmann, though she is worse. She is a woman who renders horrors, the incredible and the desperation of those who die into the ordinary. The merchandise is difficult to recuperate, so the illegal hunters decide to drown those who arrive alive. Nahiri doesn’t accept this and moves on from the group. He offers his services to Caina, submitting to her behavior. Together, they establish the classic victim/ executioner relationship as they scrutinize each other, sniffing suspiciously like beasts.

  • Stefano Amatucci
    Director
  • Stefano Amatucci
    Writer
  • Davide Morganti
    Writer
  • Movieland
    Producer
  • Salvatore Suarato
    Producer
  • Filomena Palomba
    Producer
  • Luisa Amatucci
    Key Cast
  • Helmi Dridi
    Key Cast
  • Isa Danieli
    Key Cast
  • Gabriele Saurio
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 29 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 31, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    500,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Global Network Lift-Off Film Festival
    Paris
    France
    Best Feature
  • Ischia Film Festival
    Ischia
    Italy
    Best Photography
Distribution Information
  • Moovioole
    Country: Italy
  • Cardinal XD
    Country: Worldwide
Director Biography - Stefano Amatucci

Stefano Amatucci was born in Naples (Italy) in 1966 and started working as
assistant director just finished the classical studies.
He has been assistant director years of Lina Wertmüller for about ten years but
also worked with others directors such as V. Verdecchi, M. T. Giordana, D.
Camerini, Elvio Porta, G. Base.
Stefano Amatucci begins his career as a director in 1997 with the short film “In
uno spazio stretto” (Italian for “Into a tight space”) winning the award “Premio
del pubblico” (Italian for Audience Award). This is followed by another short
film, “Mi chiamo” (Italian for “My name is”, developed and shot in the
Secondigliano prison with the help of the detainees and the Ministry of Defence.
He is known for the Italian TV real drama “Un posto al sole” - produced by the
Italian public television RAI and Freemental Media Italy - of which he’s director
since 1998.
In 1992 he made his debut as a screenwriter in the movie “Nottataccia”(Italian
for “A bad night”) directed by Duccio Camerini with the actress Stefania
Sandrelli.
Over the years he has directed several television series of various genre such as
crime drama, comedies, melodramas.
In 1996 Stefano Amatucci debuted as stage director with the Manlio Santanelli ’s
theatrical play “Per disgrazia ricevuta” (Italian for “For disgrace received”)
followed by “Nè in cielo né in terra” (Neither heaven nor earth) by D. Camerini “,
“Se devi dire una bugia dilla grossa” (Two into one ) by R. Cooney, “Van Gogh” by
L. Nattino, “Limbo cafè” by M. De Giovanni.
In 2012, waiting for finding a producer for the movie “Caina”, he performed a
well acclaimed by both critics and audiences theatre adaptation of it at the
“Benenevento Città Spettacolo” festival.
Finally in 2016 Stefano Amatucci shot the full-length film “Caina” of which he is
director and co-screenwriter with Davide Morganti.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Director's notes:

In the West, the question of immigration has become the disease of our time, a threat provoking aversion, rage and fear. It is an issue to be fought and not healed. The paradox is that hatred has been transformed into a model of cultural superiority on which we impose justification for society’s actions. The terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, the Islamic State and the attack on Paris solidified the belief in these justifications. These incidents delivered to the Western world a distorted image of Islam, fomenting a tsunami of racist and xenophobic prejudices.
From this hatred mixed with fear, a dark fable was born, a visionary, palpating tale told through the shadowy, fascinating territory of female ferocity.
The film represents the hysteria of our times, breaking many cultural boundaries only to give rise to others, which are more implacable. Xenophobia and racism are expressed through those who embody prejudice with the use of clichés and words. Words being their sharpest weapons. The protagonist speaks, to whoever is seemingly helpless, in relentlessly incontrovertible, sententious terms. She never attempts dialog, but asserts supremacy of thought based on the affirmation of an all-encompassing anger with no room for contradiction. "Caina" is a priestess of death, spreading her homily among corpses and ghosts. The story is told in a surreal context, as a hallucinatory political fiction.