Matera 2 Luglio

The Timeless Charm of Maria S.S. della Bruna Feast

It’s July 2, 1993, in Matera, the day of the Feast in Honor of Maria S.S. della Bruna.

The City of Stones expresses its identity every year, on the same day, for over six centuries. The Shepherds’ Procession, the knights’ parade, the Holy Procession, the pulling of the papier-mâché cart. Rather than narrating, this documentary archives a world on the brink of extinction that, in its silent flow, survives the customs and traditions that progress tends to alter. Noises, sounds, voices: vibrant expressions of a culture passed down through generations. Fabrizio Berruti and Mario Raele capture its essence and give back to the history of folk traditions the memory of men whose faces bear the marks of hardship and dignity.

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