Salt Along the Tongue

Victorian Premiere

“★★★★ Absolutely unique film – where every image was a vision – from camera work to blocking to costumes and production design this was full of original visual ideas.” – Eugene Kotlyarenko (Director of Spree, The Code)

“Malfitano’s sophomore film gives me faith in this incoming decade of indie Aussie filmmakers today.” – Letterboxd user

After teenager Mattia’s mother dies unexpectedly, she has no choice but to move in with her aunt Carol, her mother’s identical twin. As Mattia grapples with the loss of her mother and this new way of life with her aunt, a treacherous family secret begins to come to light. From beyond the grave Mattia’s mother possesses her daughter, not only trying to protect Mattia from the same fate that befell her, but also to find reconciliation with her twin sister, using food as a gateway.

Writer-director Parish Malfitano (Bloodshot Heart, FFFA 2021) explores his own Italian heritage in this visionary second feature, with a haunting tale rooted in the malocchio (evil eye) superstition. Malfitano’s screenplay was a semi-finalist in Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition, and he calls the film “a love letter to my mother”, taking inspiration from Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver, as well as Possession, Three Women and Don’t Look Now.

Festivals & Awards
SXSW Sydney 2024
American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition 2021, judged by Francis Ford Coppola – Semi-finalist