UNA GIORNATA NELL'ARCHIVIO PIERO BOTTONI

In a screening room at Cineteca Milano, Giancarlo Consonni and Graziella Tonon look at old films that have just been digitized: they recount the life and projects of the architect, urbanist, painter, and photographer Piero Bottoni. The movie follows the couple as they research material conserved at the film library and, above all, at the archive. It recounts a multifaceted and socially committed artist who dedicated his life and work to the primary goal of instilling reality with dreams and enchantment, making use of every art form. Through the multiplicity of the materials at its disposal – drawings, films, photographs, investigations, projects, voices – the movie shows the realization of Piero Bottoni's most ambitious project: constructing a mountain in Milan, Monte Stella, that rose from the rubble of the Second World War. Because, as Bottoni himself wrote, “If Monte Stella was born, grew, became covered with trees, paths, and streets, it's because it was a dream and a poem, and because I believed in it. Because, in spite of appearances, dreams and poetry can move the world.”

“Giancarlo Consonni and Graziella Tonon are two poets and urbanists, the creators and custodians of the Piero Bottoni Archive at Milan's polytechnic university. Since 1973, the year Piero Bottoni died, they have conducted intense activities of research, collection, study, and promotion to conserve and valorize the work of one of the 20th century's greatest architects and urbanists. In 2021, in the name of the Archive, they asked us to make a movie about Piero Bottoni and the first thing they told us about him was how multifaceted and complex he was. So as we consulted projects, drawings, photographs, scale models, books, and catalogues, we wondered if there was any filmed material, as well. Giancarlo and Graziella showed us a closet that contained dozens of 16mm and 8mm reels that hadn't been screened in over fifty years. Right away we sensed that those thousands of meters of film were concealing a movie we wanted to make. The primary framework of our documentary would be the screening and analysis of these 'forgotten' films.”