Movie Night! Tarantism Revisited
Filmvorstellung mit anschließender Diskussion mit den Regisseurinnen Anja Dreschke und Michaela Schäuble
Donnerstag, 16. Juli 2026 um 18 Uhr, Nauklerstraße 35, Raum 105
Winner of the Golden Dove for Best Documentary Feature Film 2024 in the German Competition of the 67th International Leipzig Film Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, the film revisits the cultural phenomenon of tarantism in Southern Italy. It explores the intersections of ritual practice, healing, music, embodiment, gender and social life through historical reflection and contemporary perspectives, offering a unique opportunity to reflect on the relationships between culture, belief, and the collective experience of healing.
Set against the backdrop of Apulia, Italy, in 1959, the film follows the traces of anthropological research on tarantism—the phenomenon associated with ecstatic ‘dancing mania’ affecting women supposedly bitten by a poisonous spider, exorcized and healed through music. Drawing on remarkable archival footage and the correspondence between anthropologist Annabella Rossi and Michela Margiotta, alias Anna, a tarantata, the documentary weaves the past and present to examine how tarantism has been documented and interpreted, and how it continues to resonate today.
Poster
