Releases

Paolo Cognetti returns to his first passion, documentary, to tell the story of his mountain, Monte Rosa, a geographical place but above all a place of the soul.

Years ago, Paolo felt the irresistible call of the mountains and even now he feels it every time he finds himself spending long periods in the city. Today the mountain is his home. But it still remains an ideal of freedom, adventure and peace. After having told it in the award-winning best seller “Le otto montagne”, which was adapted into the film of the same name, winner of the Jury Prize and the David di Donatello at Cannes, Paolo Cognetti now shows his vision of the mountain through the medium of film. He will take us with him for a whole year, to listen to his thoughts during long walks on the paths of the Rosa, up to the highest peaks, where the glaciers still extend. We will follow with him the tracks of animals that move, often hidden from our eyes, around human presence: ibex, chamois, deer, roe deer and above all wolves. We will meet people who, like Paolo, have chosen the mountains as their habitat and, in one way or another, seek an alternative lifestyle to the city one. We will see and hear the mountain change through the seasons and at the end of the journey, perhaps, we too will have changed.

One of the most beautiful places in the world, an island in the Pacific Ocean. Wild horses play on the beaches chasing and fighting each other for supremacy in the territory. Remains of slaves’ iron shackles remain on the pristine shore. They look old but in reality they could have just been abandoned. A 40-year-old Indonesian man with dark curls, Jeremy Kewuan walks barefoot on the beach, reading and reciting an ancient poem on his smartphone: “When I returned home, soon after being born to my mother, I saw a drop of blood. I am the protagonist of an adventure of which I know nothing: Who clings to pain and who does not? I went to look for answers to decipher the past. There is no present or future. I looked down and saw a book written in blood, a blood of blue color. At the beginning the poem is a hymn to the beauty of the island and the myths of the Maramba kings who reigned in a glorious past … but also to their way of treating the lower classes, whom they considered an inferior race. Jeremy then reflects on the present with a sarcastic comment: “Will there be a future for “Sumba” as long as its doctrine is kept alive?” Jeremy looks up. A passenger plane is flying over the beach and is about to land. A young woman, taken into custody by the nuns, is escorted to the airport. He gets into the car, sits in the back, hiding from the view of the others. The nun is driving and Jeremy is filming the whole thing, he’s sitting in the front like he’s a passenger. On the road monumental huts made of dried leaves form a canopy… People still live there in the traditional way. The car arrives at Rina’s village and everyone comes out, welcomed by a large and festive family. The nun approaches them, addressing the little girl’s father, and all the villagers: “Do not sell your children to strangers, as if they were merchandise… This is what they did to Rina, sick, mistreated and abused. She is just a child.” This is “Slave Island”.

In a Venezuela in crisis, two former schoolmates are united by moral and existential doubts. Roberto, a rigid idealist who works for the Ministry of Transport, struggles to make ends meet but promises to never abandon his homeland and looks down on those who abandon the country. Selina, a reckless expatriate scion, works illegally in Italy and is considering getting married to obtain documents, a situation she hides from her wealthy family in Venezuela. When Roberto receives what seems like an extraordinary job opportunity abroad and Selina becomes trapped in Venezuela during the Christmas holidays, the two are faced with a difficult question: will they stay to rebuild their homeland or face the uncertainties of life as immigrants? The film is an immersion in the deep economic and social crisis of Venezuela. It portrays both physical and moral hunger, revealing how corruption infiltrates a society from the top down until it crushes it, from the highest political officials, through petty bureaucrats, to individual citizens. The narrative focuses on stories of daily violations of human rights, made of violence, abuse of power, malnutrition, lack of education, social inequality and economic devastation. This is the scenario that triggers mass migration, a process that changes the physiognomy of our human landscapes.

C’era una volta il Derby Club is a television documentary, narrated by Elio, from Elio e le Storie Tese. We retraced the history of the Derby Club Cabaret, through rich archive material and numerous interviews with artists who made their debut at the Derby Club, including Cochi Ponzoni, Paolo Rossi, Massimo Boldi, Claudio Bisio, Antonio Catania and Aldo Giovanni e Giacomo.

From the early 1960s until 1985, when it closed its doors, the Derby Club Cabaret was in fact one of the most fashionable meeting points in Milan. For more than twenty years, various generations of comedians destined to enter the history of Italian entertainment performed there, giving life to a school of comedy crossed by anarchic and surreal veins destined to remain unmatched. Fu un periodo indimenticabile, una vera e propria epopea.

“Se fate i bravi” is a diary of the days between 19 and 21 July 2001 in Genoa. It was the days of a summit between the eight most powerful states on Earth. A few hundred people gathered to decide the fate of the planet and hundreds of thousands of people went to Genoa to peacefully contest that predatory and unjust development model, and propose another. That dream and that protest were met with the most serious suspension of democratic rights in the West since the Second World War, as Amnesty International defined it. This is what happened to the authors and witnesses of the film, who twenty years later felt the need to tell their story. Il film è tutto un lungo racconto, un diario momento per momento, svolto vent’anni dopo da Evandro Fornasier.

As of November 8, 2022, the film has been distributed in 100 theaters throughout Italy. It was selected by FICE (Italian Federation of Arthouse Cinema) in the Racconti Italiani review. “Se fate i bravi” was then selected by Arci in the cinema circuit. Finally, it was included in the AstraDoc review of Naples in the section “Journeys in the cinema of reality”.

“Se fate i bravi” is sponsored by Amnesty International – Italy

About us

Samarcanda Film is more than a production house: it is a laboratory of stories, a place where the art of storytelling comes to life. We are driven by an inexhaustible spirit of curiosity, the desire to explore, discover and share worlds, whether geographical or internal. The journey, in all its forms, is the common thread of our productions.

[ + ]

Film

|

Drama

|

Documentaries

|

Creative development

Film

|

Drama

|

Documentaries

|

Creative development

News & Social

Today the documentary film is released in over 200 theaters with a special 3-day event on November 25, 26 and 27. In particular, at the Anteo cinema in Milan, director Paolo Cognetti will be present in the room for an introduction and greeting to the public. Link:https://www.fioremioilfilm.it/
On November 19, a week before the release of “Fiore Mio”, Paolo Cognetti’s directorial debut, the documentary was presented as a press preview at the Cinema Anteo in Milan. Present are the director and author Paolo Cognetti, the composer Vasco Brondi and some of the protagonists of the documentary, Remigio Vicquery and Corinne Favre. We thank Nexo Studios for organizing the event and Mattia Carzaniga for moderating it. Source:https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1099547075162994
The La Compagnia cinema is sold out for the national premiere of “Fiore mio”, Paolo Cognetti’s directorial debut, which will be released in Italian cinemas on November 25th. We especially thank the festival director Alessandro Stellino. Source:https://www.festivaldeipopoli.org/fiore-mio-di-paolo-cognetti-apre-il-65-festival-dei-popoli/
Over 8,000 people attended the world premiere of “Fiore Mio,” Paolo Cognetti’s directorial debut. Produced by Samarcanda Film, with Nexo Studios, Harald House and Edi, the film opened Piazza Grande and will be released in Italian theaters next autumn. Source:https://www.locarnofestival.ch/it/press/press-releases/2024/locarno77-fiore-mio-the-crowd-con-musiche-osi-proiezione-speciale-e-t.html
The Barberini cinema hosts us for the first day of filming of our new documentary in collaboration with Rai Documentari. Carlo Verdone will tell us 100 years of Roman comedy from Ettore Petrolini to Zerocalcare. The direction was entrusted to our friend Marco Spagnoli.
All the afternoon races at the most famous racecourse in Italy have been named after a production by Samarcanda Film on the occasion of the presentation of the latest documentary we produced “C’era una volta il derby club” which will be broadcast on April 19 on Rai Tre. The event was attended by some of the documentary’s protagonists, including Elio, Massimo Boldi and Marisa Rampin, the director of Rai Documentari Fabrizio Zappi and our CEO Leonardo. Source:https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/24_aprile_22/la-bella-storia-del-derby-club-raccontata-da-chi-l-ha-fatta-afd4982f-0c64-4db0-8787-d44123dedxlk.shtml