2023 Archivi - Samarcanda Film

Fiore mio

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.

Slave Island

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”.

Hambre

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

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.

Hollywood, Cinecittà

100 years of history of American cinema in Italy and the relationship between the two cinematographies between two world wars and the Cold War.

From the birth of cinema to modern OTT platforms, how has the bond between Italy and America changed and what decisive role have associations such as the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and Anica had in defining artistic and economic exchanges between Europe and America. Hollywood, Cinecittà is rich in archives from the beginning of the last century to the present day, testifying to the historical relationship between American and Italian cinema. Important personalities from the world of cinema and industry also took part in the documentary, such as Giuseppe Tornatore, Riccardo Tozzi, Nicola Maccanico, Daniel Frigo, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Gian Piero Brunetta, Aurelio De Laurentiis and Federico Di Chio.

Buon Compleanno Massimo

The story of Massimo Troisi, from his childhood in San Giorgio a Cremano to his Oscar nomination for “Il Postino” (1994), told by De Giovanni, a well-known Neapolitan writer, and by the people who knew him best in his professional and personal life: Francesca Neri, Enzo De Caro, Nino D’Angelo and Roberto Vecchioni, to name a few. The story of a comedy champion, who made his Neapolitan nature a strong point, without ever allowing this to bind him to a solely Neapolitan context.

“Buon Compleanno Massimo” has surpassed one million viewers.

Samarcanda Film Srl