The Goats of Monesiglio (Le capre di Monesiglio)
Observational short documentary about an Indian Punjabi family and an Italian family working side-by- side in the northern Piedmontese town of Monesiglio. Through brief observations of everyday moments, viewers gain fleeting insights into the characters’ experiences as they care for a flock of over 300 goats, and produce traditional artisanal goat cheese. With hundreds of thousands of Indian agricultural labourers working in the dairy production sector of Italy (the vast majority Punjabi Sikhs) the film captures a microcosm of contemporary rural Italian life – while harkening back to a historical way of life. Themes of cultural belonging, our relationships with animals and our connection to food are explored.
The Goats of Monesiglio (Le capre di Monesiglio)
Emily Graves
Italy, Canada 2022
26’
Director
Emily Graves is an award-winning documentary director and film editor. Emily’s first short documentary ‘The Goats of Monesiglio’ (2022) was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary. The film has also screened internationally at numerous festivals including DOC NYC, Seattle International Film Festival, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival and the Regina International Film Festival and Awards – where it won best “Canadian Documentary – Short Form.” In 2022 she was selected as one of the eight emerging producers to take part in the Doc Institute’s Breakthrough Development Lab 2022 to develop her debut feature documentary ‘Becoming a Landscape’, which is now in development and being produced by Aeyliya Husain of November Films. Emily studied at Central Saint Martins in London, UK, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and is a graduate of the Loyalist College Photojournalism program.
