Film catalogue

Swahili Tales

Short documentary · Italy/Tanzania · 2012 · 37'

Directed by Alessandro Baltera, Matteo Tortone

  • Production country: Italy
  • Shot in Tanzania
  • Year: 2012
  • Type: three-part short documentary
  • Duration: 37 minutes
  • Format / color: HD, black and white
  • Parts: The devil's dung; The Chinese panhandle; The Harbour of Peace
  • Production: Olmo Produzioni
  • In collaboration with: BabyDoc Film, Associazione Culturale Officinakoinè

From the depths of an exhausted mine to the village on Lake Victoria where a tourist resort is going to be built, to exorcisms in the suburbs of Dar Es Salaam. Divided into three parts, Swahili Tales tells us the stories of people who are left at the margins of progress and history. Following the traces of old and new colonialism, of the survival techniques and of the ghosts of white men, the two authors venture on the roads of a rich and repeatedly plundered continent, which is nonetheless still capable of creating life.

  • Directors: Alessandro Baltera, Matteo Tortone
  • Story and screenplay: Alessandro Baltera, Matteo Tortone
  • Cinematography / camera: Matteo Tortone
  • Editing: Alessandro Baltera
  • Music: Plus (Minus&Plus)
  • Sound: Nicolò Angelino
  • Sound editing and mix: Rodolfo Mongitore
  • Color correction: Francesca Cirilli
  • Interpreter: Emily Lucas Mnubi
  • Production manager: Enrico Giovannone
  • Produced by Giuliano Girelli
  • Scientific consultant: Andrea Ceriana

Festivals & Awards

Archive periodically updated from external sources.

Participations (6) Malfé archive
2014ott · Al Jazeera Film Festival · Competition Medium Films
2014giu · Cine-Porto BoFF - Rassegna di Cinema Indipendente · Doc
2013apr · Sguardi sul Reale · Cortiadoc
2013mag · Festival di Cinema Africano d'Asia e d'America Latina - FESCAAAL · Concorso Extr'A
2012nov · Doc Italiani da Firenze a Roma · Panorama
2012nov · Festival dei Popoli · Concorso Cortometraggi