When 14-year-old Palmina Martinelli was brought to a hospital in Fasano, Puglia, on 11 November 1981, her body was covered 75% in burns. In unbearable pain but still conscious, she cried out, “They burned me, I’ll never be able to marry!” Before she died, she named her attackers: her boyfriend Giovanni and his half-brother Enrico, who had set her on fire after she resisted being forced into prostitution.
Despite her testimony, the case was ruled a suicide, and her killers went unpunished. Over four decades later, director Antonio Palumbo and co-writer Mariangela Barbanente are determined to reclaim Palmina’s voice and bring her story to prominence. Their documentary, I Will Never Marry – The Burning Story of Palmina Martinelli, was pitched last week at the Rome’s MIA (6–10 October).
Produced by Salice Production, the film seeks to explore not only the horrific events surrounding Palmina’s death, but also the unyielding fight of her sister Mina, who has spent her life demanding justice.
“Our aim, and – we believe – also our unique selling point, is that we do not want to merely recount a crime story,” the creative team tells BDE. “We want to honour Palmina’s life, showcasing her dreams and aspirations as a young girl against the backdrop of poverty in Puglia during the 1970s and 1980s.”
For Palumbo and Barbanente, the project is as much about the social structures that failed Palmina as it is about the crime itself. “By telling a story of social degradation, domestic violence, and the subjugation of the weakest,” they continue, “we want to highlight how trial truths are not always infallible — how justice is suggestible by context, and how law is not equal for all.”
The film’s perspective is shaped by both Palmina and her sister Mina. Palumbo and Barbanente call the story “a contribution to the immense effort led by Mina — our attempt to recompose the mosaic of these fragments, to make Palmina’s story known before it is forgotten with time, while the last witnesses are still here to tell it.”
At the heart of I Will Never Marry lies a deeply cinematic and nuanced aesthetic. “The documentary is a multi-layered narrative composed primarily of interviews and archival material, while also including re-enactments and observational footage,” the duo says. The visual approach juxtaposes “the archive and the re-enactments” with interviews and real-life observation, creating a duality between memory and the present.
Archival material — national and local television footage, articles, and judicial documents — will retain its original Betacam grain, serving as a temporal signature of the early 1980s. Re-enactments, also shot on Betacam, will be “evocative rather than realistic — hands, objects, dark corridors — never a fully visible face, allowing Palmina’s ghost to remain evoked, never embodied.” Meanwhile, the observational layer will follow Mina in her daily life as she continues her battle for recognition. “The camera will remain discreet, letting gestures, pauses, and breaths speak beyond words,” the filmmakers explain.
Narratively, the film will unfold in three acts. The first, built on dense editing and a fast pace, will immerse viewers in the events of 1981. The second will focus on Mina’s voice and the emotional aftermath, while the third moves to the present — to new investigations and the lingering question of whether justice can ever truly be achieved.
The project is a natural fit for Salice Production, the independent company founded by Cosetta Lagani and Ugo Buffa, which focuses on works of strong civic and social relevance. Lagani’s extensive experience in producing films and documentaries centred on women and justice makes I Will Never Marry emblematic of the firm’s editorial mission.
“The team behind the documentary is well-established, distinguished by its solidity, sensitivity, and expertise in addressing complex themes,” reveals the production team. “This project is fully aligned with Cosetta Lagani’s creative and production experience, as well as with the company’s strategy, which focuses on works of undeniable civic and social value, featuring storytelling that is universal, profound, and original.”
Lagani’s credits include the Rai TV film Margherita from the Stars (2024); the feature doc Before the End. The Last Days of Enrico Berlinguer (2024), and the RAI and Netflix documentary Marta – Murder at the Sapienza Campus (2022).
For Palumbo and Barbanente, their personal connection to Palmina’s story adds urgency to the project. “When we were children, the news of a young girl burned alive and dismissed when she named her attackers shook us,” they recall. “It left us feeling helpless in the face of cruelty. And when we met Mina, we understood that feeling like a victim of injustice shatters the soul — the only way to begin healing is by trying to piece the fragments back together.”
The film has already received development backing from the Apulia Film Commission and is currently seeking national commissioners, co-producers, and distributors, as well as international partners. “Palmina’s story is, unfortunately, still painfully relevant — a story that continues to unfold across the world,” the team say. “For this reason, we see the MIA Co-production Market as a great opportunity to maximize the project’s visibility and connect with the right partners.”
With an estimated budget of €200,000 and €70,000 already in place, I Will Never Marry – The Burning Story of Palmina Martinelli promises to be more than a reconstruction of a brutal crime. It aims to confront the structural injustices that silenced a young girl, while celebrating the resilience of a sister who refused to forget.
