Acqua in bocca

Synopsis by director Pascale Thirode: “I am Corsican through my mother, who never shared her story or the island’s history. She seems to have forgotten her origins. A few years ago, I found a photo album with removed photos and scattered captions, which became clues for a journey with my daughters, aged 10 and 13. We arrived by ship, approached the island in mist, and docked in Bastia, my mother’s hometown. We sought her father, who died in Ajaccio in July 1944 under mysterious circumstances. Navigating mystery and doubt, we faced the unease of an unpassed story, symbolised by the Corsican expression ‘Acqua in bocca,’ meaning ‘water in the mouth,’ which silences speech.”