OSSignùr! La montagna assistita

(Oh My God! Mountain Assistance)
by Sandro Gastinelli and Marzia Pellegrino
62', DV-Cam, Italy, 2008

Ossignùr! (Oh my God!) is the most spontaneous and frequent exclamation heard in the Piedmont region of Italy. But OSS also stands for operatori soci-sanitari, or national health system workers who, along with nurses and general practitioners, provide home assistance to all of those people who live with some kind of difficulty: people who are ill, alcoholic, or just very old, and who live alone in the most isolated district of the Valle Varàita. Often they don’t require medical assistance, but simply need someone who can help them to dress, do the shopping, or accompany them to the market or the doctor, or to bring them a hot meal. At times they just want someone to talk to and so they find any excuse, like asking for some oranges, so that someone will pay them a visit.

Sandro Gastinelli and Marzia Pellegrino
Sando Gastinelli was born in Cuneo and cultivated his passion for film from an early age. In 1990, with his wife Marzia Pellegrino, he founded the Studiouno Produzioni Televisive in Boves. With the film Parla de Kyé, Sandro and Marzia began their prolific activity of producing and directing  films and documentaries dedicated to life in their mountains, the western Alps of the Piedmont region.