Franco Piavoli

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

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.

Directed by a group of avant-garde filmmakers, the film is an investigation of the less edifying aspects of film industry.

The aging, conservative population of a small, sleepy village in the Italian Alps are surprised to see that a former French professor has settled there with his young wife and their three children to produce goat cheese, in order to escape the wrongs of civilization. At first they are suspicious of his unconventional ideas and lifestyle, then are conquered by the enthusiasm, kindness, helpfulness of the young family and start to see in them a possible rebirth of the place. But little by little misunderstandings, envy and conflicts take over.

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.

Set on an August afternoon in the Lombardy countryside, a family lingers around the table after a long summer meal. As the day stretches on, each member moves off to their own activities, quietly passing the hours.

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 look at the passage of time through the changing seasons, human evolution and everyday life.

A man walks with his child on the grass of a hill. He reaches an old country house, where years before he had spent his childhood during World War II. The deserted and desolate rooms make him travel back in memory to the time when the war was ending. Episodes of family life pass before his eyes: father, mother, grandmother and six children, of which he, Silvano, the youngest, was made mute by the shock of a bomb exploding...

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:

The film is the personal story of a protagonist of our times and traces Carlo Martini's actions and thoughts, as he has remained faithful to its vocation and ideals. Through dramatic events (terrorism, Tangentopoli, labor crisis, conflict, loneliness) Carlo Martini interpreted losses and concerns of the people, who saw a free man and a non dogmatic prince of the Gospel Church. Thanks to the authenticity of his testimony he has been a reference point for believers and non-believers, a prophet of hope, a forerunner of Pope Francis.

Visual ode to contemplative journey through the stages of life and the essence of human existence, set in a timeless backdrop of an Italian village.

Emigrants from Calabria arrive at Milan station with their luggage, to make their home there or set off for other destinations. A man falls asleep in a waiting room. The travellers look lost and tired. The language of the others is henceforth incomprehensible; they are already foreigners in their own country.

Through interviews with prostitutes, transsexuals, marginalized people, and the disabled, the director tells a series of stories about sexuality and feelings. An investigation that becomes a quest to explore the other side of love.

No description available.

The short registers a sports spectacle of great importance (probably of soccer). We never see the spectacle itself but the people watching and reacting at the stadium.

Franco Piavoli in his world.

Franco Piavoli is one of the most important directors among Italian independent panorama. Through the years, He built one unique and authentic cinematographic grammar. Born in 1933, He spent his whole life in Pozzolengo, a small village near Garda’s lake. There, He imagined, wrote and - for the most part - shot his own works. We visited him in his house, with us only two reels in super 8mm, and asked him to tell us about his next movie.

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

In a Renaissance castle, masks and costumes are moving animated by moonlight. In this magical atmosphere, the painting of a girl comes to life, while two young men behind bars and listen to music and singing in a large room a prince wanders in the throes of loneliness