Erri De Luca arrives on the island of Ischia. And he remembers...

1960. Erri has just turned ten. As he does every summer, he leaves the working-class neighborhoods of Naples for the island of Ischia. On the beach, he becomes captivated by a young girl who, like him, is absorbed in her books. Their meeting soon sparks the jealousy of three slightly older boys, who beat him up on the shore.

Years later, during Italy’s turbulent Years of Lead, Erri would again face violence in the demonstrations of Lotta Continua, the revolutionary movement of which he became one of the leaders. But it all began on that beach. Waking up in hospital, injured and disfigured, the young Erri endures a long and lonely recovery, learning to trust his body to heal itself.

Two decades later, while working in factories, his body, worn down by physical labor, would once again be forced to find its own resilience. Only writing, and reading the Bible at dawn, would help him bear the hardship.

Back on the beach at Ischia, the young girl decides to take justice into her own hands. The boys who attacked Erri are drawn into a fight that ends with both of them rolling in the sand and blood. Erri rejects this vision of justice, yet he is deeply fascinated by her determination. Through her, he discovers why the word justice feels inherently feminine.

As an adult, Erri will stand up for migrants, the environment, and the voiceless, even at the risk of imprisonment. The girl, whose name he will eventually forget, remains forever linked to his earliest understanding of justice. Their first kiss, exchanged that evening on the fishermen’s beach, marks the end of childhood and his first encounter with something sacred.

Barefoot on his Neapolitan island, that ten-year-old boy already carried within him the revolutionary, the factory worker, the mountaineer, the translator of the Bible... and the writer he would become.


I pesci non chiudono gli occhi.

A Film directed by Audrey Gordon
Based on the novel I Pesci non chiudono gli occhi by Erri De Luca.
Production: Big Sur, OH!PEN, Artline Films, Jando Music.

Director’s Notes

The film explores the life of Erri De Luca, blending fiction and documentary. At the heart of the story is a pivotal episode from I Pesci non chiudono gli occhi, set during the summer of 1960, when the young Erri experiences first love and confronts questions of justice. This defining moment marks his passage from childhood to adulthood and is brought to life through the performances of two young actors portraying Erri and a young girl.

These fictional scenes intertwine with documentary footage shot on the island of Ischia, childhood photographs, and Super 8 films, creating an intimate and poetic portrait of the writer. Historical archive material further connects Erri's personal journey with key moments in Italy's history, from post-war Naples to the social and political upheavals of the 1970s.

By weaving together memory, dream, and reality, the film creates a dialogue between past and present, and between personal experience and collective history.