17/02/2024 - Italian filmmaker Costanza Quatriglio embarks on a sentimental journey through the life and work of her father Giuseppe, a journalist and important figure in Sicilian culture in the 20th century

Sicily, the world, a house, a library. In January 2022, Costanza Quatriglio returns to the house where she grew up, long closed, and opens its doors to archivists and librarians to donate to the Sicilian Region the universe of knowledge belonged to her journalist father. It is the library and archives of Giuseppe Quatriglio, historical signature of the ‘Giornale di Sicilia’ and other major newspapers, writer, essayist and friend of men of culture of the 20th century. Thus begins a sentimental journey through photographs, 8mm reels, sound recordings made by his father from the 1940s onward in Europe and around the world, and through footage shot by the director between 2010 and 2011 with him almost in his 90s. Personal and collective memory mingle in a dense dialogue between presence and absence. With their history and culture, Palermo and Sicily are the vantage point of the world from where everything starts and returns.

This is the synopsis of The Secret Drawer [+see also:
film review
interview: Costanza Quatriglio
film profile], the new documentary by Italian director Costanza Quatriglio, which has been selected for the Forum section of the 74th Berlinale, which will unspool from 15 to 25 February.

Costanza Quatriglio is a documentary filmmaker who debuted with Cannes Directors Fortnight entry The Island, and who went on to receive acclaim for titles such as Terramatta [+see also:
trailer
interview: Costanza Quatriglio
film profile] (presented in the Giornate degli Autori line-up in Venice 2012 and awarded the 2013 Nastro d'Argento), Triangle [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (awarded 2015’s Nastro d'Argento) and Just Like My Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Costanza Quatriglio
film profile] (screened out of competition in Locarno 2018). Her father Giuseppe Quatriglio (1922-2017) was considered by his colleagues to be the dean of Sicilian cultural journalism. Many call him a historian; a definition he always rejected, as well as photographer, always stating "I am a journalist". He took part of that fervent Sicilian intellectual world that was very active in the second half of the 20th century.

"The house where I grew up became the set for an articulated tale that unravels from its walls to embrace Sicily, Europe and the world, across a century of history. I had woven a dialogue with my almost 90-year-old father, filming him among his books and papers. I have treasured those images to this day. As if somehow, somewhere, I knew that with that footage I was building a memory of him that would one day also find its own home, in due time", the director explains.

The Secret Drawer is produced by Simone Catania, Francesca Portalupi, Michele Fornasero and Costanza Quatriglio herself for Indyca, Luce Cinecittà with Rai Cinema, in coproduction with Rough Cat and RSI - Radiotelevisione Svizzera di Lingua Italiana. International sales are handled by Film Harbour.

Check our exclusive poster below:

(Translated from Spanish)