Heat is central -- oppressive, hypnotic, disorienting. Colpo di Sole follows a rhythm that moves with the slow pull of the Mediterranean Sea and employs the sun as a narrative device. The film begins with Chiara emerging from the water and ends with her diving back in. The ultimate goal is to capture the sensory experience of beach-going, of tension and relief – the relentless, suffocating pressure of the sun, which inevitably draws you back into the water. For Chiara, this visceral experience becomes a way of experiencing memory, serving as both a trigger and a cathartic release that allows her to process the trauma of losing her best friend. As the heat intensifies, so does Chiara’s unraveling, her past resurfacing in glances, gestures and the indistinct hum of the beach around her.
The visual language is tactile -- 16mm film capturing the stickiness of salt-damp skin, droplets of sweat and heat shimmering above the sand, all with a tinge of nostalgia. The camera moves instinctively, drifting between Chiara’s perspective and a more detached, observational gaze. There’s a feeling of being immersed in the present while simultaneously being pulled somewhere else entirely. Rather than heavy exposition or dramatic flair, Colpo di Sole will rely on subtlety in storytelling. Poetic cinematography will shed light on the quiet, often overlooked moments that speak to larger emotional truths related to memory, female friendship, desire and longing.
As much as Colpo di Sole is an intensely sensory experience through Chiara, it is also a broader survey of human behavior. From playful couples to quarreling families, beachgoers and the beach act as a mirror of the human experience – the perfect place for people-watching. Through Chiara’s gaze, these strangers on the beach transform into archetypes. We begin to see these characters from an almost alien perspective, where men, women, children baking in the sun suddenly appear closer to seal lions flocking on the shore. For Chiara, this dynamic environment offers a space for reflection.
The film’s non-linear editorial approach will weave together voyeuristic vignettes of strangers on the beach with fragmented memories, creating a rich mosaic of past and present, and a raw account of life on the beach. The reality is we rarely experience time linearly. We are always somewhere in-between past, present, and future.