S2.E11 ∙ Tortura

Naples. A Virgin with bruise on her cheek who performs miracles. Three female characters, each connected to the Virgin in their own way but who never meet. Giusy, a girl in a wheelchair who had no right to a miracle; an atheist, free-spirited, and an anthropologist specializing in the worship of the Virgin Mary. Fabiana, a transsexual at the head of a troupe faithful supporters of the Virgin in a popular district of the city center. And Sue, a Korean pianist in search of a new direction for her life, teaching music to children in difficulty in a city far removed from her original culture. Each with their intimate wounds and each searching for a "miracle".

This is a story about a Russian Munchhausen who builds a wind turbine in his yard and puts his beehives on the roof because wild bees live in tree hollows. His wife sometimes argues, sometimes agrees with him, takes care of the children and the household, and claims that she lives in paradise. Sometimes she plays the piano with her eyes closed. The village around them is empty almost every resident left for the city or died so our characters live as if on an island. Their children clean the sewer system, learn English and German, and grow older before our very eyes.

Henri Troppmann goes from his sick-bed in Paris to Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War in time to witness the first General Strike of the Catalans against the Spanish. He is torn between three different women, all of whom arrive in the city at that time.

Imagine for the moment: You are a rape victim. In the aftermath of such a traumatic event, the police will ask to collect DNA evidence from your body, a process that can take four to six hours. Police will take this evidence, known as a rape kit, and you might think it is on its way to be tested for a DNA match that could lead to a prosecution and conviction. But in the end you find out the police had everything they needed to prosecute a case but chose to ignore the evidence and the taped confession. While you wait months for your rape test kit to get tested, if it ever does, you get the results from the rape kit to find out that his semen was found on your genitals. When you call to follow up on your case, your told your case was already closed.

Mustapha, a disabled street performer in Rabat, sings ten hours a day to make end's meat. Relishing his new found stardom as the subject of this documentary film, Mustapha quickly begins to exploit his celebrity status for material gain. A reflexive portrait into the manipulation and objectify influence between the documentary maker and his subject.