BIASCA CONTRO LA STREGA
BIASCA CONTRO LA STREGA
VICTOR TOGNOLA
Switzerland / 2005 / 54'
BIASCA CONTRO LA STREGA
VICTOR TOGNOLA
Switzerland / 2005 / 54'

The film is about the recollections of a mountain village where extraordinary events have been experienced with the different culture of paganism, characterised by pride and independence, rejection of external authority, sharing of common lands, feasts linked to nature and shaman women burnt like witches. In a fascinating and amusing trip, the film explores many and various historical and traditional events, some bordering on the most fantastic legends belonging to past times. The witches of Biasca, the wizard Scholl’s activity that is stigmatized by San Carlo, the heroic Barbora Romanescho, the red devil, the anthropological discovery of the “festa del barlott” (the witches’ Sabbath), the Celtic New Year’s day (which survives to date), the earthquake with the greatest fall of the Alpine chain and the 30-metre high wave of the “Buzza” that swept away the natural dyke, the Bellinzona trial, the wizard Balistario d’Armenia and the Biasca fellow – these are only some of the events and characters in the film. Most are unusual, some really occurred and others belong to the popular tradition of this lively village in the Swiss Alps.

Director

VICTOR TOGNOLA