GORGONA - by Antonio Tibaldi - film and talk

Life begins before daybreak on Gorgona, a remote island situated 19 nautical miles off the coast of Livorno, Tuscany. The stables are unlocked, the tractors are set in motion, everyday activities resume in the fields, with the milking of the cows, of the goats and sheep, the maintenance of the roads and buildings. In the bakery, the rolls and focaccias that supply the only store are being prepared as a flock of sheep skirt the rows of vines to reach the pasture.

The busy men engrossed in these tasks are the inmates of Gorgona, the last remaining agricultural penal colony still active in Europe. The institution encompasses the entirety of this island, whose sole inhabitants are the inmates, the educators and the Pr*son staff. The only exception is 92-year-old Luisa Citti, the last remaining year-round resident and the direct descendant of one of the families that populated the island in the nineteenth century.

To be admitted to this “five-star penitentiary”, a set of precise requirements is required: no ties to organized crime, no issues of drug addiction, and a final sentence lengthy enough to allow for the re-educational program to be effective.

The eye of Tibaldi’s camera leads the viewer into an unfiltered immersion in the lives of five inmates, an observation of their daily routines, of their rapport with one-another and with the educators, and of the challenging path that lies before them, in this reality immersed in breath-taking natural beauty.

GORGONA (Italia, USA | 2022 | 90 min | color) In Italian, Arabian, Albanian with English subtitles

Join us for a screening of GORGONA, and a talk by director Antonio Tibaldi and members of the crew at the City College of NY, Shepard Hall. 259 Convent Avenue, Rm 291 on Wedneday Dec 11th at 6 pm. Corner of Convent avenue and 140th street. #1 to 137th Street, ABCD to 145th Street.

Presented by the MCA department and the Documentary Forum at CCNY.

Questions to [email protected].

Director Antonio Tibaldi's note:

When I was in my teens, I was sailing in rough seas with my father not far from Gorgona, which is off-limits to non-authorized vessels. Our 30-foot sailboat had a helm breakdown so we were granted special permission to dock. Ours was the only pleasure boat in the small marina. A uniformed Pr*son guard brought us water and bread and told us to stay on the boat for the duration of our stay. We spent two days and two nights on the island, as unwanted guests. I watched the little dots in the fields facing the marina: inmates at work with farm tools. At night I was too afraid to sleep, I fantasized that an inmate might board our small boat and kidnap or K*ll us all.

That memory of ‘fear of the inmate’ stayed with me through the years. As an adult filmmaker I wanted to return to the island to confront that fear. I decided to do that by making a documentary film on the island.

After the initial 2-week survey in 2017, I realized that a surprising and unique ‘parallel world’ existed on this island. Because there are no stores, no restaurants, no cell phones and no cars, it’s as if time had stopped and left the island in an uncontaminated bubble. I did most of the filming alone. My task became one of a patient observation of the behavior of these men. I primarily filmed them at work, outside of the confines of the penitentiary. I soon came to realize that the essential tasks these men were engaging in gave them a sense of self-worth and identity. This, in the context of imprisonment, is of monumental importance.

The underlying theme of the film is the role of Pr*son as punishment vs. rehabilitation. How do living conditions in Pr*son affect future recidivism? Does Pr*son per se increase criminality, or does it serve as a deterrent to later criminal behavior? Do offenders enter Pr*son with a set of antisocial attitudes and behaviors that cannot be altered during incarceration? These questions are not addressed head-on in the film, but they seep from the observation of the human behavior of the inmates of this unique, ‘five-star Pr*son’.

Host or Publisher Documentary Forum at CCNY