11/10/2005

On November 5, 1991 Rita Atria, a 17 year-old Sicilian girl, showed up in front of the courts to denounce the Mafia system and to avenge the murders of her brother and father, both of whom had been in the Mafia. It was the first time that a girl from a Mafia family openly rebelled against the traditionally male-chauvinist organization. Renounced and threatened by her boyfriend, her entire town and even her mother, Atria was forced to flee her Sicily and go into hiding in Rome. Judge Paolo Borsellino, who became a kind of paternal figure for her, took her under his protection and supported her in her search for justice. However, the Mafia massacres in which Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone died convinced the young woman that the enormous battle was lost and Atria killed herself.

Rita Atria’s story was told several years ago by Marco Amenta, a documentary filmmaker from Palermo who studied cinema in Paris, in a documentary entitled Diario (Diary) , which picked up 22 international awards between 1998 and 1999. Amenta is now working on the feature version of the story, entitled C'era una volta in Sicilia (Once Upon a Time in Sicily) and is being produced by Tilde Corsi’s RC with Eurofilm (founded by Amenta with his sister Simonetta).
Despite a solid screenplay by Ugo Pirro and Sergio Donati and an agreement with French sales agent Film Distribution, last September the Ministry of Culture refused to consider the project for financing for its debut and second feature film fund. "That means,” says Amenta, “that we’re going to go back to making films like in the 70s, with a real co-production system, more risks and the obligation to think in terms of the international market, which I personally find more stimulating. " The young director is in Paris these days, to clinch a contract with a French company that will co-produce the film. "It won’t be a minority co-production and, in all probability, the male lead will be a French actor.” Development of the project was supported by the MEDIA Programme, the Beaumarchais Foundation and a grant from Istituto Luce.

Marco Amenta recently won Special Mention by the jury of the Libero Bizzarri Award for his documentary Il fantasma di Corleone on Bernardo Provenzano, considered to be the mastermind behind the “Cosa nostra” and a fugitive for over 42 years. Made in film with 300,000 euro from EuroFilm and Mediterranea, together with Arte, the German ARD, CNC and Télévision Suisse Romande of Geneva, the film was broadcast on French and German television. "The Pax mafiosa suits politicians and public opinion. Not reading anything about it in the newspapers, people are deceived into thinking that the Mafia has been defeated. Talking about it is the first and foremost way to fight it."

(Translated from Italian)