Zefiro

At the end of the war, Odysseus, the wandering hero, with his companions begins his sail back home to the Mediterranean. The conclusion of his adventure is delayed by many natural obstacles and he takes an internal journey of fleeting memories of his childhood, his parents, love for a beautiful girl, nostalgia for the past, regret for what he did, and the deep silence that envelops everything. He confronts the most terrible loneliness following a shipwreck in which all the comrades perish.

Using few words and gorgeous imagery, this is a poetic painting of a family, each in their own space on an August afternoon.

Fragments of a collaboration between director Franco Piavoli (The Blue Planet, The First Breath of Wind) and students of the Laboratory Making Cinema founded by Marco Bellocchio.

The passing of the seasons in the Mantua town of Castellaro follows the seasons of the life of its inhabitants. Thus, alongside the games of childhood, the first disappointments, the dances in the farmyard, the thwarted loves, the happy weddings and the nostalgia for the youth that fades away, life is always the same with television as its only companion. The arrival of autumn with its unexpected rains changes the life of the people of the town while the river flows inexorably. The first snow of winter whitens the roofs of the houses and invites children to play on the frozen lake.

A forerunner of Al Primo Soffio Di Vento. Observations along the riverside, the flow of water, the stasis of life, and the emergence of a teenager’s sexual desires.

A zebu disappears while children are drawing it. They find it again in the woods. The notes of a harp accompany their multi-coloured joy. This short was made with children from a nursery school in Mantua. Playing with colours, the children seem to conquer the world.

The feast of St. Peter in a country village. The priest admonishes his parishioners to confess and be free of avarice, but after mass he invites them all to make merry. Outside the church the elderly villagers are the first to start dancing, while street artists entertain passers by and the kids fly around on brightly lit carousels. There is als an old man inside at home, an invalid in a wheelchair, a young man wandering lost in thought, while a lonely woman watches the cuddling couples. Every year in towns, villages and urban neighborhoods there are traditional feasts to celebrate the patron saint. They reflect a need for faith, conviviality and entertainment, but for some they also make the sense of solitude and apprehension even stronger. Share:

2004 documentary by Franco Piavoli based on correspondence between poets Alessandro Parronchi and Umberto Bellintani.