| Director: | Paolo and Vittorio Taviani |
|---|---|
| Production: | Ager Cinematografica, Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana |
| Running Time: | 107’ |
| Language: | Italian |
| Country: | Italy |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Main Cast: | Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano, Claudio Bigagli, Massimo Bonetti, Sabina Vannucchi, Samanta Boi, Dario Cantarelli, Paolo Hendel, Guido Marziali, David Riondino, Antonio Prester |
| Screenplay: | Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Giuliani G. De Negri, Tonino Guerra |
| Cinematographer: | Franco Di Giacomo |
| Editor: | Roberto Perpignani |
| Production Designer: | Gianni Sbarra |
| Costume Designer: | Lina Nerli Taviani |
| Music: | Nicola Piovani |
| Restoration: | CSC - Cineteca Nazionale, Istituto Luce - Cinecittà |
Cinema
La notte di San Lorenzo (The Night of the Shooting Stars)
Venice Classics
Synopsis
It is the night of August 10. In the darkness a woman is staring at the sky and remembering another night of shooting stars, that of August 1944 when, in the closing days of the Second World War, the Germans and the Fascists were retreating before the advance of the Americans. A group of men, women and children in San Miniato disobeys the order of the Germans to gather in the town’s church. Led by a shrewd peasant called Galvano, the group sets off amidst the rubble of war to look for the Americans. The people who stay in town are massacred by the Nazis inside the ruined church. The small group continues along its way: in a field some women are harvesting wheat, with the help of partisans, and the fugitives join up with them until the arrival of a truck full of Blackshirts. A fight breaks out: although many of the partisans and Fascists are relatives, friends or neighbors, the bloodbath is terrible.
Directors’ Statement
The events [...] are viewed through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl, who relives the period with the memories of what she experienced at the time, but also with the awareness of the modern woman she has become. We are talking about the Resistenza again today because it is in the darkest and most difficult moments that we must look for the human. It is in the most sorrowful, least glorious moments that the epic is born. It is not a question of nostalgia, but of starting over, of laying the foundations for a new humanity.
Sergio Natucci, “Quella notte S. Lorenzo raccontò una favola...,” L’Unità, August 11, 1981.
Production/Distribution
PRODUCTION 1: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Cineteca Nazionale
Via Tuscolana 1520
00173, Rome - Italy
Tel. +39 (0)6 72294316
diffusioneculturale@fondazionecsc.it
Conservatore@fondazionecsc.it
http://www.fondazionecsc.it/
PRODUCTION 2: Istituto Luce - Cinecittà
Via Tuscolana 1055
00173, Rome - Italy
Tel. +39 (0)6 72293361
p.crescenzi@cinecittaluce.it
http://www.cinecitta.com/IT/it-it/cms/1/luce-cinecitta-home.aspx
PRODUCTION WHEN THE FILM WAS MADE: Ager Cinematografica
COPRODUCTIONS WHEN THE FILM WAS MADE: Rai - Radiotelevisione Italiana
PRESS OFFICE: Alberto Crespi - Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
Via Tuscolana 1520
00173, Rome - Italy
alberto.crespi@fondazionecsc.it
