SHOOTING THE MAFIA
(WITH PRODUCER INTRO)
Kim Longinotto
2019
SAT 2ND NOV | THE MAC | 7PM | £7
2019
SAT 2ND NOV | THE MAC | 7PM | £7
WANDA is pleased to present the Northern Irish premiere of renowned filmmaker Kim Longinotto’s latest film. Known for her portraits of strong women living and working under difficult, demanding and often oppressive circumstances such as 2015’s Dreamcatcher, Longinotto here turns her camera on a woman best known for being behind one.
Legendary photo-journalist Letizia Battaglia is the central figure here, and her life and work are captured alongside the backdrop of her subject, the violence and control of the brutal Mafia regime in Sicily. Based in Palermo for 20 years, and the first woman photographer to work for a daily newspaper in Italy, Battaglia captured images of events that shocked the nation and led to a legal campaign to bring down Mafia leaders and their government allies.
Battaglia’s memories of her life shed light on both the atmosphere of coercion and murder in society at that time and the reality of living as a woman in a staunchly religious and patriarchal country. Married at 16 to escape her controlling father, her husband refused to let her finish her education. Battaglia said before she picked up a camera in her 30s she “wasn’t a real person.” This is the story of self-realisation and sexual liberation through the lens of corruption and a historical fight for justice.
The film’s producer, Niamh Fagan (Lunar Pictures), will introduce this screening.
Legendary photo-journalist Letizia Battaglia is the central figure here, and her life and work are captured alongside the backdrop of her subject, the violence and control of the brutal Mafia regime in Sicily. Based in Palermo for 20 years, and the first woman photographer to work for a daily newspaper in Italy, Battaglia captured images of events that shocked the nation and led to a legal campaign to bring down Mafia leaders and their government allies.
Battaglia’s memories of her life shed light on both the atmosphere of coercion and murder in society at that time and the reality of living as a woman in a staunchly religious and patriarchal country. Married at 16 to escape her controlling father, her husband refused to let her finish her education. Battaglia said before she picked up a camera in her 30s she “wasn’t a real person.” This is the story of self-realisation and sexual liberation through the lens of corruption and a historical fight for justice.
The film’s producer, Niamh Fagan (Lunar Pictures), will introduce this screening.
