“Una Nuova Prospettiva” by Emanuela Ponzano

“Una Nuova Prospettiva” by Emanuela Ponzano is the modern story of a young generation on a journey of exploration and discovery.

“Una Nuova Prospettiva” was premiered at the 38th edition of the Torino Film Festival (TFF) in Italy and has made it into the official lineup of prestigious film festivals such as Tirana International Film Festival in Albania, FILMETS Badalona Film Festival in Spain, BOGOSHORTS (Festival de Cortos de Bogotá) in Colombia, Brussels Short Film Festival (BSFF) in Belgium and Dances With Films in the US. The acclaimed movie “Una Nuova Prospettiva” has competed in more than 82 international film festivals and has earned 32 awards.

“Una Nuova Prospettiva” opens on an antique pocket watch in a remote jungle. The pendulum is completing one oscillation in a recurring time period. Time is ticking: tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

Then the camera goes blurred. With blurred vision, one can never be sure what they can see. It brings a feeling of uncertainty. That said, how  anyone with blurred vision can see the truth?

As the vision of the camera becomes clear enough, we see a young boy exploring his surroundings in a jungle. What is he looking for? What is he trying to find?

The young boy along with two of his friends are walking around, passing by an area fenced by barbed wire. The Barbed Wire theme, as stated by Director Emanuela Ponzano, “is a present day symbol not only for the refusal of access for refugees and migrants but also for the line of demarcation for a land which finishes and another that begins. A No Man’s Land, which literally belongs to nobody.”

Each time the camera, our vision, goes blurred, each time we close our eyes and open them again, we can gain a new perspective from a different angle. That’s what “Una Nuova Prospettiva” is trying to show us.

“Time is a leading player in this story. Time and the passage of time. In fact, as the boy scours the forest for something of value we are suspended in time, and in slow motion as we hear and see through the boy’s eyes and ears and follow his meticulous search and eventual discovery,” Director Emanuela Ponzano explained.

The protagonist on his journey of discovery tries to explore and dig for valuable items—TREASURE.

“Exploration”, “Investigation”, “Search”, “Discovery” and its connotations serve as motifs in the short drama “Una Nuova Prospettiva” by Emanuela Ponzano. “Lost” and “Found” is a recurring theme throughout the movie and the two follow each other like in a game of hide-and-seek.

The young boy walks with caution in the mysterious place he’s found on his way, trying to get to know the place. Wood logs, wooden drawers and pieces of furniture, probably burnt to produce heat, is all he discovers on his exploration in the place.

He walks to a door with a glass pane and notices a little girl (Bana) crying in an area on the other side of the door. We can’t hear her, but as the camera changes its point of view (New Perspective) from the other side of the door, behind which the young boy is standing, we can hear Bana crying. It seems that the curious young boy is opening the door to the past, deep in the heart of history.

Bread is symbolized as a gift from God; when Moses fed his people in the desert with food which fell from heaven, and during the last supper, when bread became the body of Christ. When Jesus multiplied the bread to feed the crowd, bread became a sign of sharing. It also symbolized the Word of God which nourished the crowds.

Bana’s mother search through her stuff in an old suit-case. She needs to take only the valuable stuff. She opens the suit-case and takes some family pictures and some jewelry items.

Family pictures represent past memories, and one can not leave behind their memories, which shape up their identities.

A soldier’s boot kicks the suit-case, making Bana’s mother to look up at him with fear. She’s not scared of the soldier alone; she’s in fear of what the soldier represents.

The young boy represents the future. Through his eyes, we explore the past events. What we witness through his observation is not the truth, it’s a perspective, a new perspective.

Baruch Spinoza, the Dutch Philosopher, once said, “If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.”

Now that we have experienced the past, walking with the face of future, we can look into the history of violence and terror, remember the past with an unblurred vision and not repeat the history.

We witness the terrorizing scene of a father taken away from his family, a mother taken by soldier to a corner, a group of men and women forced to undress to meet their fate at the final destination in the background. This is just a glance into the history of violence; an image which has survived until the present day.

The commander points to the soldier to take Bana and her mother. The young boy is witnessing the scene in terror, stepping back. Then, we hear the sound of guns firing at the people standing by the trees on the young boy’s face. He’s terrorized. He’s stepping back. He’s stepping back from ‘the past’ to meet his ‘present day’.

The young boy standing in the frame of time, looks paralyzed. We see him in a long shot in the door frame, from which he entered the past.

Now, the perspective is changed.

His friends come and find him from behind. It’s going to rain and the night is spreading gradually in the jungle. They have no worries to cross the border and get back home as they have documents. So, there will be a lot of people without any documents at the border gates, waiting to meet their fate.

As they leave the area, the camera points to Bana’s doll which is lying frozen on the mud, like a dead person. However, a tape inside the doll’s heart is being played back. This can represent the memories of the past unforgotten inside the hearts of a nation, and it can not be removed, silenced, or taken away.

“In about ten minutes as spectators we witness a reversal of a young boy’s gaze, a new vision of the world, the temporal connection between 1945 and 2019 in Europe, and the awareness of our responsibility on the quality of the world we are building. In addition to a change in color that will mark the difference between the two periods, there will also be a change in ratio during the film. A film shot in 4/3 which in the last part will become 16:9 with a change in ratio from 1:34 to 2:35 panoramic depending on the look of the young protagonist towards the barbed wire,” Emanuela Ponzano has unveiled.

The boys reach the border area, looking shocked. A large group of people are waiting at the border, some of them are getting beaten up by the border police. This scene looks so much familiar for the young boy. As this circle of events in the “Una Nuova Prospettiva” by Emanuela Ponzano completes yet another oscillation, the history has been repeated. In fact, the history does not repeat itself, it’s man who forgets the past and repeats the history.

It’s at the border that the protagonist starts to see the long row of barbed wire, which symbolizes war, prison and barriers. Many instances of the barbed wire still exist in today’s world, as referred in the captions preceding the closing credits.

We hear the protagonist say, “There are barriers, barbed wire. But I never noticed them. Now I notice them, I see them.” on the long smooth movement of camera on the road with barbed wire at sides. The scene is revealing a new perspective: a wide beautiful landscape, symbolizing a free world, without any barbed wire, borderline and wall.

The long wide shot of landscape into infinity cross-fades to the opening scene of the movie, showing an antique pocket watch in the jungle. The pendulum is completing one oscillation in a recurring time period. Time is ticking: tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

The movie is signed with a quote from Primo Levi, the Italian chemist and Jewish Holocaust survivor, “If the memory of evil does not serve to change humanity, then what is its purpose?”

“Una Nuova Prospettiva” started its theatrical release in the famed TCL Chinese Theatre as part of the Global Shorts program section of the 25th Dances With Films (DWFLA).

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