Respirano Records

Arbëria on Netflix and Amazon Prime

Arbëria is the first – and so far only – feature film ever shot in Arbërëshe language (a medieval Albanian dialect that still survives in some southern Italian communities). It is also the first time the mysterious, ancestral and haunting culture of the Arbërëshe people is made available to the public.

The film features an original orchestral score by Luigi Porto, that also curated the sound design, sound editing and mixage entirely at Respirano NYC, with foley by Marco Ciorba and his sound team.

Arbëria is an Italian and French co-production. The director, Francesca Olivieri, born in Turin and living in France, tackles here her Albanian origins, narrating the story of a woman (Aida, played by Caterina Misasi) that goes back to her old birthplace in an Arbërëshe town, in occasion of her father’s funeral.

As with every film where Luigi signs music and sound design together, it required a bit of preparation. He was involved already at the script stage, and while personally casting the onset sound team, he started developing the main musical theme, that influenced the editing as well. Later, he worked on the sound design with a series of original atmospheres from the ArbërësheItalian town that the onset sound team collected.

After being distributed in European theaters, the film is now available, with subtitles, on Netflix Italia and Prime Video.

Here is the trailer!