Country: Italy
Year: 2003
Duration: 76
The day after the death of avvocato Giovanni
Agnelli, an enormous crowd of people from Turin crawls up the stairs of the old
factory Lingotto, like a sort of Way to the Calvary, to present their honour to
the corpse in the mortuary chapel. Among the people there were many ex workers,
immigrated from the south. Their words are full of praise and gratitude for the
man who has given them the chance to work and build a family. But in these days
there are other FIAT workers who fight to defend their jobs, threatened by the
crisis of the factory. Many of them are on a complete wage supplement fund. In
the words of these workers there is no gratitude, but only worry and rage. An
entire city has cried for the death of Giovanni Agnelli: who's going to cry for
the death of the working class of Turin?
"This drama of the present is
strongly in contrast with the common feeling of gratitude of those workers whom
I have seen queuing in front of their master. But the film tells about the
distance between the subjection of a Turin still tied up with its royal origins
and the Requiem of ita working class that doesn't exist anymore" (G.
Barberi).
Biography
film director
Gianfranco Barberi
Gianfranco Barberi (Turin, 1944) comes out in the 60's in the underground cinema in Turin with his first super8 at the festival New American Cinema. He is one of the founders of New Italian Cinema. From 1969 until 1978 he lives in Rome and works as scriptwriter for cinema and TV. The meeting with Mario Bava starts a real sodality: together they write several subjects and screenplays, like Ecologia per un delitto (1971) and Shock (1977). Back in Turin, in 1980 he makes several documentaries with social themes for the city Council and RAI Tre. From 1984 until 1993, together with Marco Di Castri, he founds the production company Cataloga and makes many documentaries on contemporary art. From 1999 until 2002 he has been the head organizer of the Doc competition for the Turin Film Festival
FILMOGRAFIA
Turchia, storia di un popolo oppresso (doc., 1976), Memorie del presente (1978), Ma non saremo che noi stessi ancora (doc. 1980), L'ombra del giorno (1982), Ouverture (doc., 1984), Now I Know Snow (doc., 1986), Joseph Beuys. A New Idea of Art (doc., 1987), Claes Oldenburg. Il corso del coltello (doc., 1987), Standing Sculpture (doc., 1988), L'abito della rivoluzione (doc., 1988), Michelangelo Pistoletto. I Have a Mirror, You Have a Mirror (doc., 1988), Donald Judd a Rivoli (doc., 1988), Daniel Buren. Del colore dell'architettura (doc., 1988), Jean Tiguely (doc., 1988), Jannis Kounellis. Bisogna avere una certezza immobile come una stella (doc., 1989), Dal cavalletto alla città. Arte Russa e Sovietica (doc., 1989), Magiciens de la Terre (doc., 1989), Mario Merz. Terra elevata (doc., 1990), Claudio Parmiggiani. Una scultura (doc., 1991), Scalabrun (1995), Felice Casorati. Conversazioni (doc., 1996), Christo. Coprire per riscoprire (doc., video, 1998), In viaggio con l'arte di Luigi Mainolfi (doc., 1999), Ritratto di un amico (mm, 2000), Marco Gastini: la mano aperta della pittura (doc., 2001), Mimmo Jodice: lo sguardo della mente (doc., 2001), Vincenzo Foppa, un protagonista del Rinascimento (doc., 2002), Requiem (doc., 2003).
Cast
& Credits
Regia, soggetto, sceneggiatura, fotografia/Director, story, screenplay, director of photography
: Gianfranco Barberi
Montaggio/Film editor: Neo
Musica/Music: Kenny Wheeler Quintet, Gyorgi Ligeti
Produzione/Production: Redmuvi c/o Gianfranco Barberi
Montaggio/Film editor: Neo
Musica/Music: Kenny Wheeler Quintet, Gyorgi Ligeti
Produzione/Production: Redmuvi c/o Gianfranco Barberi