Siamo qui da vent’anni

Milk, wine, cheese, chestnuts: the agricultural vocation of the province of Cuneo, a metaphor of Italy as a whole, is largely made up of communities of foreign origin whose often underrated labor is actually crucial. The idea of making this documentary began here. More precisely, it was the brainchild of Roger Davico, the local chair of Associazione Nazionale Oltre le Frontiere (Anolf, National Across the Frontiers Association), as part of the “Frame, Voices, Report” project launched by the Consortium of Piedmontese NGOs.

“I know this local area very well,” he says, “I was born and bred here. Our association supports workers of foreign origin and, through cultural mediation, promotes integration. Alas, I’ve always struggled a lot to demonstrate how these new citizens are making decisive contribution to our society and improving the local area. This is where the idea for the film came from. Our aim was to tell the stories of the foreign communities that work here. We didn’t choose the most numerous in the province but some of the ones that specialize in given sectors. Director Sandro Bozzolo and I wanted to show that these people not only do very tough jobs that no one else is prepared to do but that failing to make use of the skills that some of them possess is detrimental to the whole of our country. The project informs and educates citizens and politicians to raise awareness about the benefits of working together. We’ve Been Here For 40 Years speaks about the participation and integration of these communities in our context and of how they have nonetheless maintained their traditions. I think that the only extenuating circumstance to be considered a citizen of our country is acceptance of the content and values of our Constitution.