In the feature documentary, Summer 82 - When Zappa Came to Sicily,
filmmaker and Zappa fan Salvo Cuccia tells the behind-the-scenes story
of Frank Zappa's star-crossed concert in Palermo, Sicily, the wrap-up
to a European tour that ended in public disturbances and police
intervention. Cuccia had a ticket to the concert but never made it.
Thirty years later, collaborating with Zappa's children, he re-creates
the events through a combination of rare concert and backstage
footage; photographs; anecdotes from family, band members, and
concertgoers; and insights from Zappa biographer and friend Massimo
Bassoli. The story is also a personal one, as Cuccia interweaves the
story of Zappa's trip to Sicily with his own memories from that
summer. The film looks at the rise and heyday of Frank Zappa's career
as an innovative composer and libertarian provocateur, and includes
such tales as how Moon Unit and her busy father came to collaborate on
their hit song "Valley Girl." While in Sicily for the concert, Zappa
visited Partinico, the birthplace of his father and grandfather; and
in the film's warm and loving coda, three of Zappa's children,
Dweezil, Moon Diva and wife Gail, return to meet their relatives there
for the first time.