In the filmmaker’s paternal lineage, four suicides: Renzo, Egidio, Maria, and his grandmother Pierina stand as silent monoliths. In his home village, the clinical term “depression” is replaced by the more domestic, yet deceptive, “sadness.”
These lives were effectively erased from the family narrative, their identities eclipsed by the sheer enormity of their final acts. Within a culture where mourning is a strictly private burden and the mere mention of mental illness is seen as a social poison, he is haunted by a singular question: is this darkness etched into his very DNA?
Ciarnin is an area of Senigallia that, in local dialect, means “we shall return.” Seeking an act of self-preservation, the director returns to his roots alongside his “chosen family” from Torino, Davide, Gabriele, and Erica.
Together, they confront the tragedy of his biological bloodline, attempting to suture a wound that has bled across generations. Ciarnin is an intimate, cinematic journey through the geography of grief and the search for a cure in the heart of the Italian province.
