The doco follows the life of outstanding Sicilian photographer Letizia Battaglia, who overcame all odds of gender and violence to photograph the crimes of the Sicilian mafia during the bloodiest years of its history.

The film is an extraordinary addition to Longinotto’s ouvre, which is well-regarded for portraying inspiring women empowered in the face of oppression.

Her works include such titles as Pink Saris (2010), about women standing up to sexual predators in India, and Salma (2013), about an Indian Muslim woman who smuggled poetry out to the world while under house arrest by her family.

Shooting the Mafia similarly walks the feminist track (although Longinotto claims to celebrate the stories of rebels and outsiders – not necessarily women – who tend to be women in a world dominated by men).

Between 1974 and 1990, as the photography director of L’Ora, Palermo’s left-wing daily newspaper, Battaglia or one of her assistants was present at every crime scene in the city.

Battaglia’s work is an unflinching look at the underworld of the ancient city, which is widely regarded to be the most conquered port in the world.

She chronicled the deeds of Cosa Nostra in a society ruled by omertà, the code of silence: don’t see, don’t tell, and don’t refer to the authorities for help.

With an archive of over 600,000 black and white photographs, Battaglia’s work has gained international recognition as it transposes from the tabloid front pages to exhibition spaces around the world.

Director Longinotto said that she was inspired to document Battaglia’s work after delving into Sicily’s history of the mafia and realising how little she had read “about the brave people who had dared to challenge them”.

“I started to think about how our film culture glamorizes power, the swagger of the gangster, and tends to ignore the courage of ordinary people,” Longinotto mused.

Known as an “observational” documentary filmmaker, with no advance planning, scripting or lighting, Longinotto said that for this film, “everything was different”.

The documentary makes use of a fictional counterpart to bring Battaglia’s past to life, alongside snippets of gorgeous Italian documentaries, the now 84-year-old Battaglia’s photographs plus TV news stories, all edited into a fascinating mix of historical and speculative material.

Longinotto said that the importance of Battaglia’s photography lies in its brutal uncovering of the fallout of the mafia men’s honour.

She uniquely captures their undiscriminating violence – against, men, women and children.

“We see a working man slain in a garage, he still has the cloth in his hand,” Longinotto said.

“She showed the casual murder of ordinary people and the effect it has on life around them.”

In 1979, Battaglia bravely exhibited photographs of mafia victims in the main square of Corleone, the domain of Sicily’s most notorious and ruthless mafia clan.

“I was afraid,” she has conceded.

Longinotto, who was born in London in 1952, is mysteriously linked to Italy through her father, who was born there but maintained a false name in an attempt to hide his ethnic roots.

“He pretended to be Leo Landseer as he wanted to pass as English,” Longinotto said.

“I grew up thinking I was a descendant of Sir Edwin Landseer.

“There was an elaborate subterfuge.   

“When I discovered my real name is Longinotto, I dropped the bogus Landseer.”

Longinotto admits that Battaglia’s resolute and unblinking eye in the Sicilian underworld has resonated strongly with her own documentary work.

“She is prepared to show the unshowable; I admire her for that,” she said.

“It also comforts me because at times I’ve had to do that too.”

Shooting the Mafia will screen at the Sydney Film Festival 2019 on June 9 at 6:15 pm and June 16 at 10:15 am.

Get your tickets online.