The Peasants Shouldn’t Know How Good It Is
2017
HD video 1:1 aspect ratio
15min 17sec
The title is from the Sicilian proverb: Al contadino non far sapere quanto è buono il formaggio con le pere (the peasants shouldn’t know how good it is, cheese with pears)
The film takes place over a week, during the Festa della Madonna or L'Assunzione (Festival of the Assumption) in the medieval town of Tusa, Sicily. Formatted in the square aspect ratio of Hasselblad and Instagram travel photography, it depicts the spectacle through quiet moments of everyday life that take on magical qualities for the stray cats of Tusa’s narrow winding streets and a family of Cirneco dell'Etna (an Egyptian hunting dog favored by Sicilian aristocracy), all living among humans performing acts of ritual and domesticity, all within a primarily unspoken historical class structure and the orange glow of modern street lamps.
