Battiti al Cretto (80', 2025)

Heartbeats at Cretto is a creative documentary of approximately 80 minutes, written and directed by Federika Ponnetti, which chronicles the creation and staging of a collective live art performance on Alberto Burri’s Grande Cretto, the largest land art work in the world, made from the ruins of the 1968 Belice earthquake. The performance involves the entire community of Gibellina Nuova, from children to elders, through a machine designed by the artist that captures and amplifies the heartbeat of the inhabitants, creating a collective heartbeat that symbolically reconnects the population with the land and the memory of the destroyed town.

The film weaves together three main narrative threads: the present-day construction of the Machine and social engagement with schools and citizens; the testimonies of activists Danilo Dolci and Lorenzo Barbera and their non-violent struggles against poverty and mafia dominance before and after the earthquake; and the visionary leadership of Mayor Ludovico Corrao, who, with the help of artists such as Burri, Isgrò, and Jodice, transformed Gibellina into a site of cultural rebirth and civic participation.

Through archival footage, interviews, and dreamlike sequences, the documentary explores how art can transform trauma and build community, celebrating the power of peaceful activism and grassroots democracy. The performance on the Cretto with its network of wires and speakers becomes a metaphor for an invisible yet powerful bond uniting past and present, pain and hope, and individual and collective identity.