Between reality and invention, a story passed down from father to daughter—the story of a man who tries to save his sister from death but fails:

In my family, some stories go untold, as if what isn’t spoken will never be known. No one ever told me or my brother about my aunt. We knew our father had three sisters, but now we only have two aunts—meaning one of them was no longer alive: Daniela.
I have no memories of her when she was alive, nor of us together. There’s a photo of her, though—I remember that one. I never liked it. It’s grainy, anonymous, and my aunt’s face looks yellow—or at least that’s how it seemed when I looked at it as a child. It’s the kind of photo handed out to friends and relatives at a funeral.
When she died, no one told me. I have an image of that afternoon: I’m walking through the house, stopping outside my parents’ bathroom with a strange premonition. The door is slightly open. I look inside: my father is standing, arms stretched out, gripping the sink. He’s crying—desperately, trembling, shaking, but silently. I remember worrying because I’d never seen him cry before.
I grew up and stopped thinking about it. My aunt was dead, and death brings sadness—that’s why, I assumed, no one ever spoke of her.
Then one day, when I was twenty-five, my father came to me and told me Daniela’s story. He did it without pausing, omitting nothing, as if he’d been waiting for that moment his whole life. This is my aunt’s story as I heard it from my father—the story of a man who tries to save his sister from death but fails. 

Almost all of it is true. Some parts are invented.

Bio 

Giulia Scotti trained as an actor at Grock – Scuola di Teatro. She has acted in several plays, most recently Elogio della vita a rovescio (dir. Daria Deflorian). Beyond theater, she has explored various expressive mediums, including comics. In 2018, she was selected for the European project Artists@Work, resulting in Fermata Rogoredo—a short comic exhibited at the Internazionale Festival Ferrara.
In 2020, her debut graphic novel Tutto quello che non ho dimenticato won first prize (awarded by writer Paolo Cognetti) at the Milano Pitch for adult fiction. In 2019, she co-founded the Praxis collective, merging performance art, anthropology, and social research methods. Quello che non c’è is her debut solo project (2024).

Credits

Text and direction: Giulia Scotti
Project collaboration: Andrea Pizzalis
Consulting: Alessandra Ventrella
Performed by: Giulia Scotti
Lighting design: Elena Vastano
Sound: Lemmo

For INDEX: Valentina Bertolino, Francesco Di Stefano, Silvia Parlani
Co-production: INDEX, Tuttoteatro.com
Production residency: Carrozzerie | n.o.t, Ferrara Off Teatro
Winner of the 2023 Tuttoteatro.com Dante Cappelletti Award
Special Mention – Odiolestate 2023 Open Call

Duration

55′

Language/Subtitles

Italian

Tickets

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