BERG DER STEINE - AUSGRABUNGEN AUF DEM MONTE IATO

English title: Monte Iato - The Story of an Excavation
Duration: 90 min
Format: DCP, color

Production: Andreas Elsener Filmproduktion

With support from: Institut für Archäologie: Fachbereich Klassische Archäologie der Universität Zürich

Distribution: MovieBiz GmbH (CH)

SYNOPSIS

In 1971 the Archaeological Institute of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, began an excavation on the site of Monte Iato in Western Sicily. Since then, every year a group of Swiss archaeologists travels to the small village of San Cipirello at the foot of the mountain, to work on the excavation.

There, they are assisted by local workers from the village. None of them are trained archaeologists but some of them have worked on the site for more than 40 years. Over the years the excavation and the work it offers have become an important economical factor in one of Italy’s poorest regions.

The 90-minute-long film explores the history of this excavation and its changes over almost five decades. But most of all it portrays the multicultural microcosm that is San Cipirello during an annual six week dig from a Swiss and from a Sicilian perspective.