Il cassetto segreto

Costanza has a famous father. Giuseppe Quatriglio was a Sicilian journalist, author and globetrotter. Smart, hungry for life, good-looking. He filled a house with books, texts and mementos. It was in this rich environment that Costanza grew up. In 2010, she begins filming her father, without extra lighting, without prep, just him in his bathrobe. With one hand she hauls down the “1995-2001” box for him from the top shelf, with the other hand she holds the camera. Upon her father’s death she decides to make The Secret Drawer. She stays on and keeps filming – using both hands like a virtuoso. While she empties his house, the film jets through post-war Europe with her father and the world is revealed from a Mediterranean perspective, the daughter stays in the house, staging and performing her relationship with her father. His books and boxes are catalogued, his sense of order transferred. A powerful tidying up process, an upheaval. Yet in these moments of dissolution, a wealth is revealed – and a father. “This archive is showing us a much friendlier person than I thought.” One hand in world history, the other very close to her father himself. (Christiane Büchner, Barbara Wurm)

Costanza Quatriglio’s debut film was the award-winning The Island, which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and was restored in 2023 by Cinecittà Studios in Rome. She has directed films and documentaries garnering awards at numerous international festivals including Venice and Locarno. She won two Nastro d’Argento awards with My Human Heart in 2013 and Triangle in 2014. Her recent films include the The Girl whi Didn't Want to Sing (for television) and The Virus Smuggler.

Production Simone Catania, Costanza Quatriglio, Antonietta Bruni, Francesca Portalupi, Michele Fornasero. Production company Indyca (Turin, Italy). Director Costanza Quatriglio. Screenplay Costanza Quatriglio. Cinematography Sabrina Varani. Editing Letizia Caudullo. Music Giovanni Di Giandomenico. Sound design Marco Furlani. Co-producer Nicola Bernasconi. Co-production Rough Cat, Cinecittà, Rai Cinema, RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera.

World Sales Film Harbour

Films: 2003: L’isola / The Island. 2006: Il mondo addosso / The World on Their Shoulders. 2009: Il mio cuore umano / My Human Heart. 2013: Terramatta / My Human Heart, Con il fiato sospeso / Holding my Breath. 2014: Triangle. 2020: Palermo Sospesa. 2021: La bambina che non voleva cantare / The Girl who Didn’t Want to Sing, Il trafficante di virus / The Virus Smuggler. 2024: Il cassetto segreto / The Secret Drawer.

Bonus Material