Tribute to Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti
Few directors like Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti bear witness to the radical transformation within documentary cinema in recent decades, with the increasingly evident shift from a "classical" observational bent to more refined and refined forms of staging reality and studying the society in which we live. From the couples in The Betrothed to Italian entrepreneurs abroad in Great Expectations, through the investigation of boundaries - as much ethical as geographical - in The Castle, filmed inside Malpensa airport, to the life of a cathedral in The never ending factory of the Duomo. These are the four films of the event organized by the Festival dei Popoli as part of "Apriti Cinema," the summer arena at the Piazzale degli Uffizi created on the occasion of the Florentine Summer 2024, in as many weekly appointments from June 26 to July 17 (9:45 p.m., free admission).
"I have been following the work of Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti with interest and admiration since their beginnings, when they were able to narrate an Italy undergoing a profound transformation in its political dynamics of civil life, with rare irony and great lucidity. They have made some of the masterpieces of the contemporary film scene, defending a unique and personal vision, increasingly precise in drawing a line between past and present, and today we can say that they are among the artistic excellences of our country, beyond any genre distinction - it is no coincidence that they are among the very few documentary filmmakers to have been accepted in competition at the Venice Film Festival. The Florentine review in the magnificent setting of the Piazzale degli Uffizi will give the opportunity to discover - or rediscover - a cinema that has distant roots in our tradition and that today investigates the time we live in with conscious rigor and profound humanist impulse" (Alessandro Stellino, artistic director Festival dei Popoli).
The event is part of the Comune di Firenze Florentine Summer calendar organized by the Quelli dell’Alfieri association with programming curated by La Compagnia cinema - Fondazione Sistema Toscana, with the support and collaboration of the Gallerie degli Uffizi.
Apriti Cinema Program - Festival dei Popoli
26/06/2024
THE NEVER ENDING FACTORY OF THE DUOMO *
in the presence of the filmmakers
Italy, 2015, 74'
v.o. Italian with English subtitles
Through a poetic perspective with a strong visual impact, the film follows the work and care for the conservation of Milan Cathedral. Bricklayers, masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, restorers and goldsmiths work in an extraordinary and constant concentration of activity, filmed in the light of the sacredness of a monument that lives on gestures and times that transcend human labor, until it takes on a new symbolic value.
03/07/2024
THE BETHROTED
Italy, 2007, 73'
v.o. Italian with English subtitles
Couples from different backgrounds and walks of life prepare for marriage, an institution somewhere between religion and bureaucracy. Municipal clerks listen to them and cope with their wacky demands, while a provincial priest gives lessons on faith, science, spirituality and sexuality in the premarital course. A documentary in comedy form that is also a sharp portrait of Italy divided, as always, between the rules of the state and the dogmas of the church.
10/07/2024
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Italy, 2009, 77'
v.o. Italian with English subtitles
Three young entrepreneurs are busy launching their professional careers. Antonio organizes a training course for business executives; Federico seeks his future in China; Matteo runs the family business. A human comedy that investigates three cross-sections of life, between difficulties and ambitions, but also the situation of a country, Italy, waiting for a new ruling class.
17/07/2024
THE CASTLE
Italy, 2011, 90'
v.o. Italian with English subtitles
A year at Malpensa: four seasons lived among the bureaucracy, procedures and controls that take place every day inside an intercontinental hub. A public space where law enforcement and ordinary people, workers and passengers, coexist: every gesture caught on camera, every piece of luggage investigated in an attempt to avert illicit trafficking and unknown dangers. Most people transit freely, but some are stopped and there are those who have made the airport their home.
