Elena Bongiorno

Liguria is an impervious region, caught between the mountains and the sea. A network of deep valleys carved by streams flowing onto rocky coasts. Steep slopes collapse and wash out into the water. The Landslide has always permeated this territory; it is its natural geological - and ontological - conformation. Those who live here tenaciously oppose the slipping away of the soil, working in a way that takes the form of care, but also of forcing the balance. Two forces that meet and shape each other: one pulling down, the other clinging and trying to resist. Terracing after terracing, stone after stone, the landscape becomes an immense deposit of fatigue: human fatigue, animal fatigue, the fatigue of the roots that dig up the arid earth and break the walls, or hold them together; the fatigue of the stone, crushed between meanders and formations destined for infinite reshuffling.

Today, sexual freedom and gender self-determination are punishable by arrest or death in several countries. This short film tells the story of Nelson and his escape to Italy after a violent assault. He was born 25 years ago in Benin City, one of the most unstable areas of Nigeria. In 2018, the territorial commission that examined his case found his testimony insufficiently credible and rejected his application for international protection. In 2021, Nelson appealed to the Venice Tribunal. While awaiting his verdict, which may take months, Nelson spends his days working, hanging out with friends and making music, hoping to one day become a great singer.