Country: Italy
Year: 2012
Duration: 87'
In the grave where the body of Jesus lies, Mary cries over her dead son. A few moments of his short life surface once more through the reading of the four canonical Gospels, privileging the narrator’s point of view. Memory leads us amongst the harsh landscapes of the Sardinian mountains: we are not in Palestine, but in a world detached from the passing of time, anchored to its own linguistic and cultural traditions.
Biography
film director
Giovanni Columbu
Giovanni Columbu (Nuoro, Italy, 1949), an architecture graduate, is the author of various books, such as L’arma dell’immagine (1977), and Visos - Sogni visioni avvisi, and of painting and video art exhibitions, among which are Strategia di informazione set up at the Palazzo della Permanente in Milan. From 1979 to 1999 he worked as a director for RAI, creating several programmes, like Visos - Sette sogni raccontati e interpretati dai sognatori, selected by Prix Italia 1985, and Villages and Villages, winner of the Prix Europa as best documentary in 1991. In 1999 he set up Luches Film and directed several films and documentaries; his feature film Arcipelaghi received the screenplay award from the Sundance Institute and from the Equinox Foundation, directed by Jeanne Moreau.
FILMOGRAFIA
A Bie’ Lo.Os (cm, doc., 1983), Visos - Sette sogni interpretati dai sognatori (mm, tv., doc., 1985), L’Alcoa di Portovesme (cm, doc., 1998), L’Università degli Studi di Cagliari (cm, doc., 2001), Arcipelaghi (2001), Ritratto di Pablo Volta (mm, doc., 2004), Storie brevi (cm, tv. doc., 2005), Su Re (2012).
Declaration
film director
“The idea for the film dates back to when I was struck by a panel depicting the Gospels excerpts describing the pain inflicted upon Jesus over four columns, in the church of Santa Maria in via Lata in Rome. That was when I thought of a film on the Gospels in which the scenes would repeat themselves, almost like Rashomon by Kurosawa, and I decided to transpose the story in Sardinia, because it’s the world I love and know best, permeated by values that seem to hearken back to the Old rather than the New Testament. Two very distant universes would meet, finding a contact with reality for that dream within the souls of many: discovering Jesus, here, among us.”
Cast
& Credits
regia, montaggio/director, film editing
Giovanni Columbu
sceneggiatura/script Giovanni Columbu, Michele Columbu
fotografia/cinematography Massimo Foletti, Uliano Lucas, Francisco Della Chiesa scenografia/set design Sandro Asara
costumi/costume design Stefania Grilli, Elisabetta Montaldo
suono/sound Marco Fiumara, Enrico Medri, Andrea Sileo, Elvio Melas
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters Fiorenzo Mattu (Gesù), Pietrina Menneas (Maria), Tonino Murgia (Caifa), Paolo Pillonca (Pilato), Antonio Forma (Giuda), Luca Todde (Pietro), Giovanni Frau (Giovanni), Bruno Petretto (Giuseppe D’Arimatea), Ignazio Pani, Carlo Sannais (i due ladroni/the two thieves)
produzione/production Luches Film
distribuzione/distribution Sacher Film
sceneggiatura/script Giovanni Columbu, Michele Columbu
fotografia/cinematography Massimo Foletti, Uliano Lucas, Francisco Della Chiesa scenografia/set design Sandro Asara
costumi/costume design Stefania Grilli, Elisabetta Montaldo
suono/sound Marco Fiumara, Enrico Medri, Andrea Sileo, Elvio Melas
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters Fiorenzo Mattu (Gesù), Pietrina Menneas (Maria), Tonino Murgia (Caifa), Paolo Pillonca (Pilato), Antonio Forma (Giuda), Luca Todde (Pietro), Giovanni Frau (Giovanni), Bruno Petretto (Giuseppe D’Arimatea), Ignazio Pani, Carlo Sannais (i due ladroni/the two thieves)
produzione/production Luches Film
distribuzione/distribution Sacher Film
