Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo
Pure Unknown
Part of
Pure Unknown

Pure Unknown

Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo

2023
93 min.
Italy, Switzerland and Sweden
Italian
Subtitles: English and Catalan

Cristina Cattaneo is a forensic doctor fighting to give some dignity to the nameless bodies rejected by the Mediterranean Sea, that end up washed up on Italian shores

Datasheet

Show
Direction
Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo
Production
Jump Cut
Synopsis

Every night nameless bodies land in Dr. Cristina Cattaneo’s autopsy room. She calls them the "sconosciuti puri" (pure unknowns) and they often belong to the fringes of society. They are homeless, sex workers, runaway teenagers. Lately, they have mostly been migrants, lost in the Mediterranean Sea and washed up on Italian shores. What happens when the dead have lost their identity? In the face of this growing multitude, no one seems concerned about their right to dignity. No one but Cristina.

About the direction
Valentina Cicogna

Valentina Cicogna

Filmmaker

Valentina worked as assistant director and assistant editor on the documentary Napoli Piazza Municip...

Mattia Colombo

Mattia Colombo

Filmmaker

Mattia’s first short film Il Velo was selected at Visions du Réel, EIFF Edinburgh Film Festival and...

DocsBarcelona Trajectory

2023
Hot Docs Festival
Edició 2023
2023
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Edició 2023
2023
AJB Doc Film Festival
Edició 2023
2023
DMZ International Documentary Film Festival
Edició 2023
2023
Nuremberg Internacional Human Rights Film Festival
Edició 2023
2023
Contemporanea Film Festival
Edició 2023
2023
One World Slovakia
Edició 2023
2023
MedFilm Festival
Edició 2023
2023
Montreal International Documentary Festival
Edició 2023
2023
Rome Independent Film Festival
Edició 2023
2023
Cinemamed Brussels
Edició 2023
2023
Watch Docs Film Festival
Edició 2023
2024
Ramdam Film Festival
Edició 2024
2024
Solothurner Filmtage
Edició 2024
2024
The International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes or International Documentary Festival FIPADOC
Edició 2024
2024
Budapest Independent Film Festival
Edició 2024
2024
Italian Doc Season London
Edició 2024
2024
Antenna Festival
Edició 2024
2024
Visuali Italiane Romania
Edició 2024

Awards and festivals

Interreligious Award - Visions du Réel
Switzerland, 2023
bIografilm Festival - Audience Award
Itàlia, 2023
Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo
Pure Unknown
Watch the trailer
Related movies
Nuno Escudeiro
The Valley
Urša Kastelic and Shannet Clemmings
Remember, broken crayons colour too
Grup de joves d'origens diversos (Cinema en Curs)
Quan ens trobem
Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu
Our Land, Our Freedom
Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó
Agent of Happiness
Lydie Wisshaupt-Claudel
Leading Lights
Ricardo Íscar
Aire
Laura Poitras
Terror Contagion
Patricia Franquesa
Estimada Sara