The butterfly of the Judecca: the history of redemption of the prisoners in Venice

They are imprisoned, but their wings are not broken. Indeed, perhaps for the first time they really start flying. Here in the place where nobody would like to arrive, they begin to bloom. It is a process of rebirth, like getting out of the chrysalis. It debuts on August 28th in Isola Oedipus, a festival dedicated to arts, cinema and topicality in the name of rights and sustainability the docufilm The butterfly of the Judecca on the occasion of the 82nd edition of the Venice International Film Festival. A way to explore those who are too often “places of exclusion” such as prison. The docufilm is a 75 -minute trip between the faces, the words and feelings of the women prisoned in the Judecca; Able to surprise everyone, also themselves, becoming guides of the Biennale. Between art, cosmetics, tailoring, cuisine, women are also construction workers, actresses, vegetables, in a transformation from imprisonment to operators, regularly paid, of a factory for which all Venice cheers. It is an experiment, a dream, an emotion, a test of courage, and of all female pride. To which Pope Francis gave his support in 2024, visiting the prisoners on the day of the opening of the Holy See Pavilion in prison.

The inmates, introduced by Ottavia Piccolo, tell the emotion of becoming guides of the Biennale, but also Responsible for a laundry and ironing service that serves the best hotels in Venice, of a tailoring that makes parades and wears the godmothers of the Film Festival, of an artistic waxes, of a cosmetic department with terminals throughout the city of Venice. And also of a vegetable garden that sells its excellent products outside the prison. “In this female choral story there is no shortage of the voices of the other women who live prison”, added Ottavia Piccolo, “the prison police officers, the teachers, the volunteers, the administrators, the managers of the cooperatives who together make Judecca a unique experience, in contrast in the national prison system”.

And Venice speaks, and his threads of solidarity that open the home of imprisonment to the city, art, culture, international synergies, without preclusions. The projection will also be attended by the authors, Rosa L. Galantino and Luigi Ceccarelli, Msgr. Davide Milani, the patriarch of Venice Mons. Moraglia, the director of the prison Mariagrazia Bregoli and Ottavia Piccolo, narrative voice of the film.