Country: Germany
Year: 2011
Duration: 78'
The Veneto is one of Italy’s richest industrial areas. But it hasn’t always been this way. Forty years ago, its inhabitants were often forced to emigrate in order to survive. Today, the situation is reversed: it has become one of the regions with the highest concentrations of immigrants and it has been politically hegemonized by the Northern League. Various encounters with the many different types of people in this area paint a portrait of a territory in which the tragic and the comic often co-exist. “The film faces the problems of modern Western societies. Not long ago this region was poor; today it’s wealthy and people are obsessed with work and money, with suspicion for what is ‘different’ and the fear of losing what they have. People’s souls and brains are filled with the slogans of a racist party, which molds their ethos and their views of life. Despite feeling sad for this ‘lost’ land, I was looking for some fragment of poetry, without the pretense of offering an analytical picture or suggesting solutions, but hoping for a more humane way of feeling and living.”
Biography
film director
Laura Lazzarin
Laura Lazzarin (Padua, Italy, 1979) studied communications at the University of Padua and graduated with a thesis in sociology, all the while developing a great interest in directing documentaries. In 2005 she moved to Berlin, where she studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) and made various short films. Land of joy is her first feature-length documentary.
FILMOGRAFIA
filmografia/filmography
Es Muss Sein (cm, 2005), Clara (cm, 2006), Privatunterricht (cm, 2008), Land of Joy (doc., 2011).
Cast
& Credits
regia/director
Laura Lazzarin
fotografia/cinematography
Kai Miedendorp
montaggio/film editing
Marco Fantacuzzi
musica/music
Jonas Gervink
suono/sound
Sylvia Grabe, Joanna Piechotta
produttore/producer
Gregor Hutz
produzione, vendita all’estero/production, world sales
Deutsche Film- und Fernsekakademie Berlin
