The Garden That Doesn't Exist

Once upon a time there was a garden, a refuge, a safe haven - 'The Garden of the Finzi Continis'. It came to life in Giorgio Bassani's 1962 semi-autobiographical novel recounting an unfulfilled love story between two young Jews in Ferrara, while fascism was raging in Italy in the late 1930's. In 1972, Vittorio De Sica's film adaptation of the book won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Since then, the fictional space of the garden became so tangible that people from all over the world come to Ferrara to look for it. Fifty years after winning the Oscar, reality and fiction come together once more, as we walk through an imaginary garden and bring to life the book, its author, its main protagonists, history, love, friendships and betrayals.

Director: Rä di Martino

Cast

Dominique Sanda

Self

Giorgio Bassani

Self (archive footage)

Vittorio De Sica

Self (archive footage)

Alessandro D'Alatri

Self

Lino Capolicchio

Self

Helmut Berger

Self (archive footage)

Fabio Testi

Self (archive footage)

Manuel De Sica

Self (archive footage)