27° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL

399 B.C

399 B.C
by Nicola Campiotti
Country: Italy
Year: 2009
Duration: 10'


399 B.C.
New York. The jurists in a courtroom have to decide on the sentence
of a defendant for whom the death sentence has been requested.
The trial becomes a media case which divides public opinion.
The prisoner at the bar is an elderly man who is accused of being
a rabble-rouser, of offending the state religion and of exerting undue
influence over the minds of young people with his ideas. In the eyes
of the people, he is a guru, a fake, a wise man. Finally, the verdict
is handed down: capital punishment. The newspapers print the news
on the front page; but the condemned man invites everybody to not
be afraid of death, to not be so anxious to accumulate earthly wealth.
Who is this man?

“The challenge wasn’t only to make a film without actors, but to
experiment with a language that is able to reflect the universality
of a message that took form over two thousand years ago and that,
to me, still represents an extraordinary appeal to existence, to its
fullness. What is more important, awareness or imagination?”

Biography

film director

Nicola Campiotti

Nicola Campiotti (Rome, Italy, 1982) graduated in philosophy from the University of Siena. A fanatic traveler, he has made numerous documentaries in Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia, Egypt, Zambia, India and the United States. Between 2002 and 2003 he directed two shorts, Parole di Ercolano and L’era dell’ottimismo. He has also worked on the sets of Wenders’ Don’t Come Knocking in 2004 and, during the shooting on location in Siena, of Quantum of Solace. In 2007, he traveled through India participating in the production of the documentary The Football Hunters by Paolo Tamburella. He and Ignazio Oliva co-directed the documentary Il sole del
Mhutunzi,
about a hospice in Zambia.

FILMOGRAFIA

filmografia essenziale/
essential filmography
Parole di Ercolano (cm, 2002), L’era dell’ottimismo (cm, 2003), Il sole del Mhutunzi (coregia/codirector Ignazio Oliva, doc., 2007), 399 B.C. (cm,2009).

Cast

& Credits

regia, fotografia,
sceneggiatura/
director, screenplay,
cinematography
Nicola Campiotti
montaggio/film editing
Cristina Marra,
Roberto Missiroli
musica/music
Stefano Lentini
suono/sound
Timeline studio
produzione/production
Prana Film
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