LA MERVEILLEUSE DOULEUR DU GÊNET

A film by Olivia Calcaterra

22’/ Switzerland / 2022

O.V.: Italian, Spanish
SUB: English, French

Gone in search of stray and abandoned Spanish greyhounds in Almeria, I decided to deal with the theme of abandonment through a documentary focusing on the introspection of emotions linked to this trauma. Inspired by Leopardi’s poem about resilience, I tried to bring together human and canine feelings in the experience of being abandoned by someone. The urge to make a documentary came after my first documentary last year. I wanted to try to give the project an aesthetic sense linked to fiction, to have two contrasting worlds in the film. The film is accompanied by a narrative voice, not a didactic one, in order to unite the reportage side with the photogenic and more experimental part.

Screenplay and direction
Olivia Calcaterra

Assistant director
Maria Begoña Herrera Niembro

Photography
Loris Theurillat

Editing
Atef Maslah

Sound
Vittorio Castellano

Sound editing
Maria Luiza Brandao Vaz
Pol Barrelet

Sound mix
Najib El Yafi

Original score
Alessandro Passerini

Color Grading
Boris Rabusseau

Producer
Nicola Genni & Pauline Gygax

Production
PiCfilm & ECAL

Co-Production
RSI - Radiotelevisione Svizzera