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Tuesday July 7, 2020 – 11:00 AM

In Your Hands
Short Screenplay | 19 pages
Screenwriter: Carlo Liberatore, Sulmona/Abruzzo/Italy

Synopsis: A priest racked with guilt takes refuge in a hermitage set in the mountains in order to escape the vindictive anger of a father.

Inspiration: It is time to break the silence. “In your hands” tries to rip the veil of complicity. It wants to tell the intense and complex story of Don Nello, a tormented man with a sense of guilt who intends to open a breach in the system of protection based on the silence of the ecclesiastical authorities. It is a short film that investigates the thorny theme of child abuse in the Church through a narrative that aims to be dry and anti-rhetorical. In this sense, the reflection starts from the point of view of the antagonist, which is unusual for stories of this type, and from his attempt to understand the reasons for a highly criminal gesture. The priest is juxtaposed with the menacing rage of a father who is fueled by a deep desire for revenge. The conflict between these two characters puts into play a tragic manhunt on the background of a bitter and imposing setting.

Keywords: #silence #priesthood #venegance #atonement #forgiveness #celibacy #crime #hermitage #connivance

BIO: Carlo Liberatore is an Italian director, screenwriter and festival director. He immediately showed a propensity for narration that develops through the use of news photography and writing. He graduated from Vittorio Storaro’s Accademia Internazionale per le Arti e le Scienze dell’Immagine (International Academy for the Arts and Sciences of Images) and he specialized in directing and screenwriting by researching the dramatic techniques of McKee, Vogler, Hauge, Seger, and Edson. His first film, La stanza degli ospiti (The guests’ room), a documentary on the difficult situation in L’Aquila after the earthquake, was supervised by the director and Oscar candidate Gianfranco Rosi.

He was the assistant director for Riccardo Milani and backstage director for Lamberto Felice’s film Cloro (2015 Sundance Film Festival 2015). He usually works as a screenwriter for the Victor Perez’s production company Masked Frame Pictures (winner of the David di Donatello 2019 for the VFX). In 2016 he wrote the short film called Another Love, directed by Victor Perez, that received more than 40 nominations and 27 prizes at international film festivals. He writes and directs commercials and institutional videos. In 2016 he won a special mention at the Cervignano Film Festival for the musical video La tipa di Rock-it.

Since 2015 he has been the festival director of the Sulmona International Film Festival that has reached its 38th edition. The festival celebrates young cinema around the world with a selection of unreleased works by emerging directors.

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