Filmmaker Statement

Based on the memoirs of Lino Dordoni, Fischia il Vento (The Wind Whistles) traces the events that occurred during The Battle of Monticello, Northern Italy, on April 16th, 1945, when 450 SS soldiers executed a surprise attack at dawn against roughly 25 Partisan resistance fighters located inside the castle of Monticello. This film is written and directed by Lino’s grandson Alessandro Dordoni. Although his grandfather never spoke about the war, after his death in 2003, Alessandro was given by his grandmother a copy of the memoirs that Lino wrote about his time as a partisan during WWII. Over time, he tried to understand why his grandfather had never talked about those memories that made him so proud, and nearly 17 years later, conscious of today’s political climate, Alessandro has decided that the time has finally come to tell this story.