IBSA Foundation and the CISA Film Academy of Locarno have made a short film that explores the universal desire to have children through archive film footage and an unconventional narration.
In 2025, IBSA Foundation decided to add a new medium to the initiative launched years earlier with the Parole Fertili (Fertile Words) project: film. The short film La Luce Attesa (The Longed-For Light) began as a collaboration with the CISA Film Academy of Locarno and is part of an editorial and cultural strategy that, over time, has depicted reflections on parenthood in various forms: a story-sharing platform, a book and a theatrical play. With film, IBSA Foundation takes another step towards reaching a wider audience, seeking, in the language of images and suggestion, something that words alone can’t always convey.
La Luce Attesa takes the viewer on an emotional journey dealing with the desire to have children, with all that that brings: hope, the sense of inadequacy, the failures, the moment when you learn to accept that desires sometimes go unfulfilled. The common theme is light, a metaphor for something that persists even when the journey is interrupted.
One of the most delicate parts of the creative process is the choice of narrative structure. Over time, many first-hand accounts were collected through the Parole Fertili project, each with its own special characteristics. Using them all would have risked diluting the narrative focus. The solution was to construct a single narrative voice that brings together phrases and fragments from different experiences into a single yet recognisable account: a story not belonging to anyone in particular, so that it belongs to many.
Archive footage was used to construct the account, mainly originating from Switzerland and from Lugano. It wasn't used in a documentary style, but as symbolic support: images taken out of their original context to acquire new meaning and new emotional emphasis. The soundtrack follows the same approach: created by the director himself, it is full of contrasts, reflecting the narrative tensions without ever becoming a mere background accompaniment.
The narration itself doesn't reveal all at once and deals with more than just the desire to have children as an intimate experience: it also observes how the family has changed over time, how society and its expectations shape the way that desire is experienced.
The short film was directed by Etienne Del Biaggio, director and editor chosen for his experience working with archive material. Before starting work, he read the personal accounts in the book Parole Fertili: Viaggio alla ricerca di un figlio (Fertile Words: A Journey in Search of a Child), a collection of real-life stories that guided his creative choices.
"I felt excitement and a certain apprehension", he recalled. "It's a highly complex human issue and we wanted to portray it respectfully."
One of the most important decisions was the choice of narrator's voice. This was entrusted to Elda Olivieri - famous as the Italian voice of Lara Croft from Tomb Raider - and the narration transformed what had been a collage of phrases taken from different experiences into a coherent story. A clear, mature voice able to convey the depth of the material without overwhelming it. The director described the collaboration as an unexpectedly emotional experience.
The title, La Luce Attesa (The Longed-For Light), recalls a recurring motif within the narrative arc of the Parole Fertili project: hope that never dies, even when it doesn’t lead to a happy outcome.
TThe short film was nominated for the Festival Unarchive di Roma, in the category dedicated to the reuse of high quality footage, consistent with the creative process involving students from the CISA.
When asked what he hoped people would take away from the film, Etienne was direct: he wants to leave them asking the question whether not being able to have children makes someone any less of a parent. There's no answer to that. It's more of a starting point, so that each viewer can take away their own point of reflection.