Films

A Wind of Change 72 mins Segesta Production UK/IT Toni de Bromhead

Unlike most films that one sees, this film shows what it really means to live with, and to fight the mafia in Sicily – not the judiciary or the police, but ordinary people who desperately wish to improve the quality of life and bring real democracy to their beloved island. Thus, A Wind of Change is about the ‘social’ anti-mafia, and was filmed in the Province of Trapani (Western Sicily) where the mafia situation is recognised to be one of the most complex and difficult in the whole of Italy. Over a year, the film follows a group of volunteers who belong to the anti-mafia association Libera, and their charismatic local leader Salvatore Ingui. We follow them through many different anti-mafia activities which involve moments of joy, moments that are emotionally charged, and moments of tension. Above all it follows this group whilst it is trying to come to terms with the continuous attacks from the media, both local and national. Some of these criticisms are written by people who were said to be sympathetic to the mafia, and whose aim was to discredit Libera and so undermine their wonderful project. But other criticism came from within the anti-mafia movement itself. The situation is bewildering, but the film enables the viewers to assess something of this situation for themselves.