The peasants move forward unevenly as they reap the wheat. Behind them, the endless, undulating stretch of the Sicilian estate. The men load the sheafs of wheat onto the mules and take them to the threshing floor. To keep up the animals’ strength the men sing songs in which they invoke the sun, the wind, Divinity. By evening the work is completed, the peasants fill up their sacks, load them onto the mules and return to the village.
Biography
film director
Vittorio De Seta
Vittorio De Seta (Palermo, 1923) debuted as a director with Pasqua in Sicilia, which he co-directed with Vito Pandolfi, and between 1954 and 1955 he shot six documentaries in Sicily. Of these, Isola di fuoco won first prize for best documentary at the Festival of Cannes in 1955 and Contadini del mare won at Mannheim in 1956. He directed his first feature film in 1961, Banditi a Orgosolo. He switched to television in the 1970s, the start of a collaboration with RAI that resulted in the series Diario di un maestro (1973). He has recently made the documentary Dedicato ad Antonino Uccello (2002) and has finished shooting the feature film Lettere dal Sahara.
FILMOGRAFIA
Lu tempu di li pisci spata (cm, doc., 1954), Isole di fuoco (cm, doc., 1954), Surfarara (cm, doc., 1955), Parabola d'oro (cm, doc., 1955), Pasqua in Sicilia (cm, doc., 1956), Contadini del mare (cm, doc., 1956), Pescherecci (cm, doc., 1958), Pastori a Orgosolo (cm, doc., 1958), Un giorno in Barbagia (cm, doc., 1958), I dimenticati (cm, doc., 1959), Banditi a Orgosolo (1960), Un uomo a metà (1966), L'invitata (1969), Diario di un maestro (TV, 1973), Un anno a Pietralata (TV, 1974), In Calabria (1993), Dedicato ad Antonino Uccello (2002), Lettere dal Sahara (2005).
Cast
& Credits
production Astra Cinematografica
distribution Astra Cinematografica, Cinecittà International