A seemingly harmless natural event suddenly transforms into an inexplicable nightmare with supernatural boundaries in the mountain village of Vallata, at the center of the new and eagerly awaited TV series Memoriae. Directed jointly by Cosimo Alemà and Isabella Aguilar and presented at the Rome Film Festival in the Freestyle section, the production lands for the first time on RaiPlay starting today, 23 October, with 12 episodes of 25 minutes each. The first six will be available today, while for the last six we will have to wait until October 30th. Memoriae it combines the police investigation with dystopian tension, posing profound questions about the inestimable value of memory.
A high-flying mystery: the plot of Memoriae
But let’s get to the plot of this new TV series. The quiet of the Friulian town is shattered by a landslide which not only causes material devastation, but triggers a shocking collective amnesia. A specific segment of the local population finds itself with as many as 6 years of life suddenly erased from their minds: sentimental ties, children, crucial decisions and loves vanish into thin air, throwing the inhabitants into a profound and dramatic disorientation.
The situation quickly worsens when the Civil Protection decides to impose a strict quarantine, completely isolating the village from the rest of the world. Within this temporal and spatial bubble, the void in memories brings back unspeakable secrets, old grudges and conflicts that have never subsided, while an occult force awakened by the collapse of the rock begins to manifest itself through disturbing visions of remote eras that gradually become more vivid than reality.
In this claustrophobic scenario moves Matteo, a war photojournalist played by Dario Aita, who manages to violate military surveillance with the primary objective of saving his sister. On his journey he joins Alma, an oncologist played by Gaia Messerklinger who happened to be in the area on an excursion and got stuck in the town. Together, the two protagonists will try to reveal the truth hidden in the depths of Vallata.
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Venzone, the Alps and Friuli: the location that becomes the protagonist
If the plot explores the labile boundaries of personal and collective memory, the setting plays a fundamental role in defining the dark, cold and typically Nordic atmosphere of the narrative. The production chose the charming town of Venzone, in the province of Udine, to give visual life to the village of Vallata. Immersed in the Julian Prealps, the woods and surrounded by imposing nature, the town was selected after careful research guided by precise aesthetic and narrative needs.
In fact, the directors were looking for an isolated and oppressive place, in which the surrounding mountains almost gave the spectators a feeling of trap. During the inspections, the crew discovered an extraordinary and fascinating consonance between the real story of Venzone and the one told in the screenplay. The Friulian village was in fact destroyed by the dramatic earthquake of 1976 and subsequently rebuilt entirely as it was, stone by stone, over the course of almost twenty years.
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Even the magnificent Cathedral of Venzone, dedicated to Sant’Andrea Apostolo and originally built in 1308, followed the same fate of rebirth after the destruction of the earthquake, becoming the perfect symbol of a community that fought to preserve its identity and memory. This deep connection with the territory made the set incredibly authentic, flanked by targeted reconstructions such as that of an abandoned factory 3 kilometers away, reconverted for the needs of the scene.
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@RebeccaManzi/GreenMe
An exceptional cast and a productive gamble
Co-produced by Rai Fiction and Filmclub Distribuzione in association with Minerva Pictures, and made with the contribution of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission and PromoTurismoFVG, the series represents one of the rare and courageous forays of the Italian serial panorama into the mystery drama and psychological thriller genre. Alongside the aforementioned Dario Aita and Gaia Messerklinger – faces known to the general public thanks to television successes such as Us, Don Matteo And The investigations of Lolita Lobosco – the cast boasts the presence of talented performers such as Roberto Citran, Anna Godina and Paola Sambo.
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