Teatro

FAIN: TW-226640-15

International Documentary Association (Los Angeles, CA 90010-2207)
Jeff Malmberg (Project Director: June 2014 to September 2016)

Development of an 83-minute documentary film about the Teatro Povero di Monticchiello, a community theatrical tradition in Tuscany.

This is a request by the Independent Documentary Association to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a development grant of $69,983 to script an 83-minute documentary about Teatro Povero di Monticchiello - one of Italy's most unique and culturally significant theatrical traditions. Directed by Jeff Malmberg, director of the internationally acclaimed film Marwencol, and guided by Academy Award-winning documentarian Morgan Neville and writer Mark Monroe, "Teatro" is the story of villagers in a small Tuscan farming town who, for the past 50 years, have preserved their centuries-old heritage and confronted their community issues by turning their lives into a play. Interweaving their present-day process with interviews and archival coverage of their past, the film uses the village's tradition as a springboard to explore topics of cultural preservation, conflict resolution, the evolution of community, and the micro effects of global change.