Come Foglie a Vento

 (Leaves in the wind)

Short Docu-Fiction

11 min
History & Memory / Educational
(Holocaust Remembrance)

​Produced by: L&C – Light and Color
Directed by: Caterina De Mata
Original Broadcaster: Rai Ragazzi / Rai Kids

Italy, 2021

Language: Italian, with English subtitles 

Territories available for tapes: Worldwide excluding Italy
 

Leaves in the Wind (Come foglie al vento) is an elegant 11-minute docu-fiction designed to speak directly to younger viewers—without didacticism, and with the pull of a true love-and-survival story. In today’s Venice, Jewish historian Riccardo Calimani meets two teenagers who have drifted away from their school group. As they walk through the Venetian Ghetto and surrounding locations, Riccardo opens a personal window onto history: the years of discrimination and fear that shaped his parents’ lives, and the instinctive decisions that helped them survive.
 

Told through a fluid blend of live action and animation, the film recreates Fausta and Angelo as vibrant, relatable young protagonists—falling in love, forced to make impossible choices, and propelled across Italy in search of safety. The result is a moving, cinematic bridge between past and present: Venice’s silent streets and canals become a map of memory, while the teens’ perspective anchors the story in the language of a new generation. Supported by UCEI patronage and created for Holocaust Remembrance Day programming, this short delivers high emotional impact in a compact, broadcast-friendly format.