Award shortlist for earthquake film

A research film, which gave voice to an Italian community torn apart by an earthquake, has been shortlisted for a British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies award.

Italia Terremotata, which tells the story of Senerchia, a town in southern Italy which was destroyed by the Irpinia earthquake in 1980, is shortlisted in the Innovation Award category of the Practice Research Awards.

It was co-produced by Dr Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco of the School of Philosophy and Art History, and Fabrizio Galeazzi of StoryLab at Anglia Ruskin University.

Speaking about the nomination, Dr Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco said: “We are really thrilled by the news and feel that this shortlist is a recognition of the passion we put in this work. Everyone, from the sound designer to the 3D designer worked hard to reveal the genius loci of Senerchia and more generally the Irpinia region.

“We wanted to give voice to a marginal community and our main aim was to stress how post-earthquake reconstruction plans impact the identity and sense of belonging of a community.

“There have been many documentaries about the Irpinia earthquake that used archival data to reconsider the event and the socio-political scandals linked to the reconstruction of the area. But our work is ethnographic and highlights the long-lasting effects, of an event that happened 40 years ago, on the community today.”

Italia Terremotata combines 3D visualisation with 360 panoramas, interviews, soundscapes and music. It has resulted in two audio-visual experiences that can be used by communities, and wider audiences, to reflect on the long-term social and cultural impact of natural disasters: a film telling the story of the community in a conventional linear format; and an immersive virtual reality application that allows users to navigate through the story more freely.

“Italia Terremotata explores how 3D immersive non-linear storytelling can serve communities whose cultural heritage is in question. It also analyses the importance of cultural activity in relation to resilient communities in the context of natural catastrophic events,” Dr Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco added.

The winners of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies Awards will be announced in April.