Assandira screens virtually nationwide from 6/1 to 6/6.

Salvatore Mereu’s previous work established him as a deft chronicler of life in Sardinia, and his latest, Assandira, furthers this pedigree in the form of a mystery film with a jagged political resonance. We meet our protagonist, Costantino (Gavino Ledda, author of the seminal Sardinian novel Padre padrone, which was famously adapted by the Taviani brothers in 1977), in the immediate wake of a devastating fire at the agriturismo owned by his son (who has died in the calamity). Mereu then takes us back, retracing the winding chain of events that led to this tragedy and the complex relationship between Costantino, his son, and his son’s German wife, powerfully bearing witness to the decline of traditional Sardinian culture amid a changing Europe.