Al Cusna, le radici del canto, la memoria del cuore

Valentina Petrillo is a visually impaired transgender athlete. In 2019 she started a difficult battle, asking Italian sports federations to give her permission to compete in the female category. Today, after a long struggle, she is the first Italian transgender athlete competing internationally in the women's category. Her story was featured in hundreds of articles and tv appearances in Italy and abroad. Her choice to challenge unscripted societal rules is an inspiring example across continents. Despite all odds, her dream to participate in the Paralympic Games continues to drive her forward.

The film focuses on Ernesto Rossi (1897 – 1967), who was imprisoned by the fascist regime between 1930 and 1943 for his political ideas. Exiled on the island of Ventotene, he co-authored the Ventotene manifesto.

On the island of Lipari, in the heart of the Aeolian archipelago, the vast white expanse of a disused pumice quarry stands as both a monument and a wound. The White Quarry* explores this extraordinary landscape where geology, memory, and poetry converge. Narrated by geopoet Davide Sapienza, the film weaves together the voices of former workers, local historians, and environmentalists to recall a century of industry and its toll—on the land, and on the people afflicted by silicosis. Through archival images and present-day reflections, the documentary confronts the risk of erasure: of stories, of lives, and of a landscape in flux. As the island looks to the future—with plans for a Geo-Mining Park, a Museum of Memory, or luxury tourism—The White Quarry asks a vital question: can we transform a legacy of exploitation into a vision of