Gostanza da Libbiano

The film rests on the record of a real trial. The trial was held in San Miniato in 1594. The woman on trial was called Gostanza. She was in her sixties. In her village she worked as a midwife and a healer. One day she is accused of witchcraft. The questioning begins in a church court. The questions run in one direction. What the woman says is taken down. Those records are still in the archive today. The film takes them as its basis. The account stays inside the questioning room. The film was shot in black and white. It took the Special Jury Prize at Locarno. Lucia Poli and Renzo Cerrato take the leads, with Lele Biagi and Teresa Soldaini also in the cast, in Paolo Benvenuti’s Italian film of 2000.