The Balangero asbestos mine, the monster. It is in this context that Eleonora, a seventeen-year-old girl, energetic and curious, with a passion for videomaking, accidentally stumbles upon a mysterious video of her mother, Simona, as a young girl, and the shocking presence of a terrifying monster in the quarry.
This will push her to want to make a film to demonstrate the veracity of the legend of the “quarry monster”. Accompanied by her friend Leo, she will venture into the woods surrounding the quarry, an area that has been inaccessible for thirty years due to land reclamation work.
Eleonora's father, Bartolomeo, and a guard, Bepin, work for the company that deals with the reclamation.
The first attempts at recovery are unsuccessful, leading Eleonora to be discovered and to clash with her mother Simona for having dug inappropriately and disrespectfully into her past. Eleonora, not understanding her mother's reaction, will return to investigate, discovering a past and painful love, broken by death.
This discovery, a lack of conviction in continuing with the old idea, and new anecdotes about the historical, social, and economic trauma suffered by the area and previous generations due to the asbestos present in the quarry above the town, led Eleonora to change course and completely reinvent the project, achieving great success.
My idea is to show, through the characters in the series, what work has been done on the mountain. I've done extensive location scouting and believe the audience should know. For this type of project, I choose fiction because it's a way to connect with a young audience, but at the same time, I can convey important concepts that a traditional documentary might not have the narrative power to convey.
– Max Chicco
Among the priorities of RSASrl, as also stated in Article 5 of our corporate bylaws, is the promotion and development of studies and projects aimed at strengthening the economic and cultural reality of the area. The intense mining activity of the time profoundly affected the entire area and its social fabric; the current major reclamation projects represent an important sign of the protection and recovery of our territory. For this reason, valuable cultural projects are a fundamental narrative tool, as they are capable of establishing a strong bond between the community and its territory. said Giovanni Battista Poma (President of RSA).
During my first meeting with Mayor Franco Romeo, I immediately found excellent understanding. I believe Balangero needs to share its tragedy and try to exorcise it through it. I think The Enchanted Lake could be useful for this purpose. My work, the project with the schools, is moving in that direction.
– Max Chicco
