Petrolia

Giulia Mancassola

Italy / 2024 / Documentary / 16’58”I2505713

Petrolia
1 BO Visionner Images

SYNOPSIS

Sergio is a rebel with a hyperactive and chaotic personality. A deep and uncontrollable anger stirs within him, often manifesting in extreme, almost destructive behavior. This need to vent leads him to impulsive actions as he searches for a way to express an inner discomfort that he can't otherwise communicate. Sara and Fiori, on the other hand, are two sisters who represent a different form of resistance to the difficult reality surrounding them. Like many other girls around the world, they find refuge in the desire for femininity, a delicate dream they cultivate through small daily gestures. Their way of facing life is through symbolic play: applying makeup, dressing carefully, and trying to "make themselves beautiful." These rituals are not just acts of vanity but rather attempts to assert an identity and maintain a connection with their essence in an environment that seems determined to break them. Beside them is the solitary boy, an enigmatic figure who lives in a pink limousine, a refuge that separates him from the rest of the world. He is a quiet, taciturn young man who has chosen to isolate himself, remaining detached from any form of social interaction. His presence is mysterious, almost evanescent, as if he is merely a shadow passing through the decaying landscape. He neither seeks nor offers any human contact, preferring to live in his closed-off world, far from the external chaos. These three characters guide us toward an Albanian city now desolate, once flourishing but now abandoned to decay: Kuçovë, known as the "City of Oil." A place that, for decades, was exploited to the point of wearing down not only the land but also the souls of its inhabitants. The presence of oil, a resource that in other parts of the world brings prosperity, has left behind only ruins and a compromised quality of life here. The traces of this exploitation are everywhere: in the devastated landscapes and, above all, in the faces of the people who still live there.

GÉNÉRIQUE