Tarantism Revisited

Apulia, 1959: Women in white dresses dance ecstatically in a small chapel. They jump around, roll on the floor and climb onto the altar. They are called “tarantatas” and are said to be suffering from a poisonous spider bite. Their “dance mania” requires a ritual exorcism with music.

The essay TARANTISM REVISITED arranges voices from the past and present with extensive archive material from former research trips to create a complex composition. A unique correspondence between a “tarantata” and the researcher Annabella Rossi winds its way through the film as a common thread. Tarantism, once denigrated as “female frenzy”, continues to exist today - also as an expression of rebellion against patriarchal structures.

In the presence of Anja Dreschke and Michaela Schäuble.