In My Mother's House
On a random Thursday in 2005, Lina Fruzzetti received a startling email that read, "If this is your father, we are cousins." Attached was a photo of her father, who died when she was two. There follows a decade-long quest to learn more about her Italian father who died young in Italian ruled Eritrea and her Eritrean mother who does not dwell on or speak about the past. Above all, Fruzzetti strives to understand her far-flung African, European, and American family against the backdrop of colonial rule, worlds at war, migration, grief, Diasporas, and the global world which in we all live. In My Mother's House was filmed in Italy, Eritrea, and the United States, and features Italian, Arabic, Tigrinya, and English, with English subtitles. The film alternates between this family's intimate conversations and daily routines, from cramped living rooms to glimpses of everyday life in villages and towns. Telling cultural insights, bring close the wider historical and social worlds in which the events take place. A spare narration complements the changing scenes highlighting the protagonists' experience.
