'Zustissia', the story of Beniamino Zuncheddu becomes a film

The story of Beniamino Zuncheddu, almost 33 years in prison as an innocent man, becomes a film. It will be called Zustissia. Palomar and Lisa Nur Sultan are working to make a film based on the judicial story of the former Sardinian shepherd in prison for almost 12 thousand days, acquitted by the Court of Appeal of Rome in the revision process for not having committed the fact. The biggest miscarriage of justice committed in Italy, in which the former Sardinian shepherd was in prison from just before his 27th birthday until the age of 59. An affair to which Il Sole 24 Ore and Radio 24 dedicated the podcast 'Innocente'.

listen to the Podcast "Innocente, the story of Beniamino Zuncheddu"

A man who just a few days ago turned 60 and if he did not have the support of his family he would have to sleep under bridges. A man whose life has been stolen, who has not been able to form a family of his own, who has not had a job, who will not have a pension. The book 'Io sono innocente' (I am innocent), a memoir in two voices, that of Beniamino Zuncheddu and that of his lawyer Mauro Trogu (De Agostini), in which the years of struggle, sacrifices, investigations and twists and turns leading up to the reopening of the trial, have just arrived in bookshops. The rights to the book were acquired by Palomar.

The film will be written by Lisa Nur Sultan and Niccolò Gentili and will be shot in 2025 in Sardinia. An important name will soon be announced for the direction. Zustissia is the story of a heinous crime. It tells of the triple murder committed in a sheepfold in the mountains of Sinnai in Southern Sardinia on a dark night in 1991, of an innocent man who is sentenced to life imprisonment, and of the young lawyer who has stubbornly fought - pro bono - since 2016 to give him back his freedom.

It is the story of a life stolen by the longest miscarriage of justice in Italian history and of the emotional battle that lawyer Trogu and his advisors waged to achieve a review of the trial and an acquittal, which came on 26 January 2024. A film of investigation, civil commitment, friendship and love. Love for 'sa zustissia', love for the truth and for the mountains, those wonderful mountains of southern Sardinia from which Beniamino has been kept away all his life. And to which now, amidst a thousand difficulties - financial and health-related - he is slowly returning.