08/11/2023 - The documentary helmed by François-Xavier Destors and co-written by Alfonso Pinto paints a portrait of one of the biggest petrochemical plants in Europe, located on Sicily

On Sicily, in the shadow of the beautiful city of Syracuse, stands one of the biggest petrochemical plants in Europe. Seventy years after the construction of the first batch of refineries, today the land and the people seem to be left to their own devices, poisoning sky, sea and earth. "You’d be better off dying of cancer than dying of hunger," we hear on the beach bordering the refinery. Enveloped in a code of silence, the film allows us to hear the voices of people who are putting up a fight, who resign themselves to their fate, or who are simply surviving in a land that has been sacrificed on the altar of progress and modernity.

This is the synopsis of Toxicily [+see also:
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trailer
film profile], a documentary directed by François-Xavier Destors with a screenplay co-written by Alfonso Pinto, which is being premiered at the Festival dei Popoli in Florence (4-12 November).

Production duties were entrusted to Christilla Huillard-Kann for French outfit Elda Productions, and to Chiara Andrich and Andrea Mura for Italy’s Ginko Film, with support from such sources as Eurimages, the CNC, the General Directorate of Film and Audiovisual at the Ministry of Culture DGCA - MIC and RAI Cinema. Its international sales have been entrusted to Swiss firm Lightdox, while the French theatrical distribution is being handled by JHR Films, with a release scheduled for 12 June 2024.

Check out our exclusive trailer below:

(Translated from French)