Tarantism Revisited D/ CH | 2024 | Colour, b/w | 105 min. An essayistic documentary film by Anja Dreschke and Michaela Schäuble. Followed by a discussion with the directors, moderated by Aurora Rodonò (as part of the programme of the Makkaroni Akademie)
Synopsis Apulia, 1959: Women in white dresses dance ecstatically in a small chapel. They leap, spin in circles, roll on the floor, and some even climb onto the altar. It is said that they suffer from the poisonous bite of a spider and that they must therefore beg Saint Paul for healing. Images of this ›dance mania‹, which requires a ritual exorcism with music, inspired Italian anthropologists to make several journeys to southern Italy. Accompanied by filmmakers and photographers, they began to research the phenomenon known as tarantism. TARANTISM REVISITED follows the extensive archival traces of these research journeys and visits the places and landscapes of their origin.