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2025 SFFILM Festival

Sonaggios

Directed by Pietro Mereu

Italy | Documentary | 84

27 Apr
Sun, Apr 27 at 3:45 pm PT

Description

After watching this entrancing documentary, the next time you hear Christopher Walken shout “More cowbell!” in that classic SNL sketch, your thoughts will inevitably lead to Sardinia. There, in Tonara, two families continue the tradition of handcrafting the item. The name “cowbell” is a bit of a misnomer. The bells most often decorate the necks of sheep, providing music for the shepherd as well as a way to locate strays. A discerning shepherd can even identify a sheep by the sound of its bell. Aware that theirs are the last shops standing in a town that used to be rife with them, the families seek to widen their customer base through online sales, social media, and identifying other uses for the bells. They also decide to work together to ensure the survival of their craft. Pietro Mereu’s film is a delight, full of musical sheep and artisans’ passion. —Pam Grady

Director Pietro Mereu

Pietro Mereu studied screenwriting at Milan’s Civic School of Cinema, TV and New Media. He worked as a production assistant and writer for Italian television before writing and starring in the documentary Disoccupato in affitto (2010). After directing the TV series I manager di Dio (2017) and the TV documentary Il club dei centenari (2017), he made his feature documentary debut with Il clan dei ricciai (2018).

Film Details

LanguageItalian

Year2024

Runtime84

CountryItaly, Canada

DirectorPietro Mereu

ProducerFrancesca Cimolai, Marco Chiappa, Martin Cadieux-Rouillard

Executive ProducerMarco Chiappa, Francesca Cimolai

EditorGeoff Klein

CinematographerSamir Ljuma

MusicAlain Savoie

Closed CaptionsClosed Captions are not currently confirmed for this film

Audio DescriptionAudio Descriptions are not currently confirmed for this film

American Sign Language (ASL) InterpretationAmerican Sign Language Interpretation is not currently scheduled for this film