¡Volare Volare! - Esméralda's Family to the Pilgrimage of Santa Sara in Saintes-Maries-de-la-mer

In May all the Romanì peoples gather in Camargue to worship Saint Sara Kali. Following Esméralda and her family – a group of French Manouche – we will dive into the pilgrimage in search of the true spirit of the Gens du Voyage, the travelling people.

  • Cecilia Rizzuto
    Director
    Titus
  • Marco Vinz Pinnavaia
    Director
    Dreamland, Pendu, 97 & 40, The Legend of Feng the Fool, Il Mondo è Nostro
  • Cecilia Rizzuto
    Writer
    Titus
  • Marco Vinz Pinnavaia
    Writer
    Dreamland, Pendu, 97 & 40, The Legend of Feng the Fool, Il Mondo è Nostro
  • Cecilia Rizzuto
    Producer
    Titus
  • Marco Vinz Pinnavaia
    Producer
    Dreamland, Pendu, 97 & 40, The Legend of Feng the Fool, Il Mondo è Nostro
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    ¡Volare Volare! - La famille d'Esméralada au Pellegrinage de Santa Sara aux Saintes-Maries-de-la-mer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Family, Etnography, religion
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 18, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    1,200 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    France
  • Language:
    French, Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Cecilia Rizzuto, Marco Vinz Pinnavaia

Cecilia Rebecca Rizzuto was born in Milan in 1998. She attended the Brera Art School, choosing the figurative address. In 2017, she enrolled in the Faculty of Cultural Heritage Sciences at the State University of Milan to continue her studies in Art History, her great passion. Another great passion is Cinema, which he would like to study and pursue a career as a director. During high school, she collaborated on two short films in small productions. In May 2019 she started working as an art director for music videos for the music production World Music Jam. Since September 2019 she has been working freelance as a light and set designer for live events and films. In May 2023, she directed her first short film Titus, the first short film in a trilogy (Titovskji, Titus Apocalypse). In the same year, she made videoarts, two of them using the stop-motion technique. In the meantime, she made a documentary on Saint Sara, protector of the Romanì people in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, in the Camargue region, still in post-production.

Born in 1993 under Libra sign, Marco Pinnavaia is an Italian writer and director. He lived in Milan, Lyon, Paris and Rome. In High School they called him "Vinz" after watching the movie "La Haine". His first novel, "Puerto de Luna - The thin difference between black and white" was published in 2018 by Prospero Editore in Italy. "Pendu - the Hanged Man" is his first short movie, while "Dreamland - The truth on the "Freedom Convoy" affair" is his first feature film. Between a movie and another he keeps on his quest in the Universe...

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Director Statement

We wanted to tell the story of Sara's pilgrimage from the perspective of a Manouche clan who lives it as the most important family, territorial, cultural and spiritual gathering of the year. The four symbols on the Romanì flag guided our search: Roulotte is a traveling house that brings the family together; Camargue is a wild land where nomads and herdsmen coexist; Niglo, the hedgehog, is the animal symbol of the Romanì culture; Sara is the saint whose cult unites all these peoples. Immersing ourselves in this community we wondered why Romanì and Gadjé (us, the non-Romanì) lifestyles and traditions seem socially incompatible. What do “Rom” or “Manouche” mean? These words denote "man" in the Romanì language. Esméralda believe that the real revolution in a world where cultures are homogenized and differences feared is to enhance one's own cultural uniqueness by enriching from encounters with other peoples. "Khetanes" (together) Romanì and Gadjè: we are human beings, beauty is in sharing!