Naples: “Infinity. The universe of Luigi Ghirri”, the film about the famous landscape photographer at Cinema Astra

Naples: “Infinity. The universe of Luigi Ghirri”, the film about the famous landscape photographer at Cinema Astra.

The second part of opens AstraDoc – Journey into the cinema of reality, documentary review curated by Arci Movie in the Astra cinema of Naples, with the Neapolitan preview screening of the film "Infinite. The universe of Luigi Ghirri” di Matteo Parisini. The director comes to town to present to Rome Film Festival. Appointment for Friday 24 March at 20.30 pm in the room in via Mezzocannone, also in the presence of Gianluca Riccio, art historian and curator of contemporary art.

Infinite. The universe of Luigi Ghirri (Italy, 2022, 73') – Ladoc production in collaboration with Rai Cultura, Sky Arte e Film Campania Region Commission – is the story of the important experience of Luigi Ghirri, an internationally renowned Italian photographer, who wrote regularly throughout the his life. Starting from his writings, Parisini's documentary retraces the crucial stages of the photographer's life. It is a journey to the places of the province, a study of lands, water, hills, infinite horizons. It is a research into his photographic work, conceived not in terms of a single image, but as an alphabet in which each image exists only thanks to the others. The companions on this journey are the artists Franco Guerzoni and Davide Benati, the art historian Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, the printer Arrigo Ghi, the photographer Gianni Leone, the musician Massimo Zamboni, and finally the family, who represented for Ghirri the feeling of belonging to an ordinary but united community.

The film - which sees Stefano Accorsi as the voice of Ghirri's lyrics - recovers the material created by Ghirri over many years of work. First of all his writings but also the testimonial interviews featuring artists and experts. Not least his photographs and films capable of testifying to Ghirri's depth and experimentation.

“Over the years I have carried out patient research - historical, photographic and biographical - on Luigi Ghirri, the man and the artist. From here the idea of ​​the film was born, with which I contacted the photographer's daughters, who today manage the Luigi Ghirri Archive, and other artists and experts who knew him. Infinite. The universe of Luigi Ghirri aims to shed light on Ghirri, the man and the artist. […] The visual continuity is carried forward by the elaboration of the writings, which allows us to travel on the double track of the visual and sound conscious-unconscious. The sound dimension of the film was also the subject of particular care: with the author of the music we worked on the sound design, to articulate some narrative passages through the composition of sounds and images (as the photographs gradually appear on the screen we to gradually create a fabric of sounds, almost to “animate” the landscapes).” (Matteo Parisini, director's notes)

Matteo Parisini (Bologna, 1980) is an author, director and editor. His professional career began in editing. As an author, he has made documentaries for Italian and international broadcasters, including “The island” (Peoples Festival and Mar Del Plata Festival in Argentina), “Our country” and “My comma. Enzo Biagi discovering the world”, both broadcast on Rai 3.

Founded in 2011 by Lorenzo Cioffi, Ladoc is a production company specializing in narrative documentaries for cinema and TV. Ladoc has co-produced with broadcasters such as Rai Cinema, TV2000, Al Jazeera Documentary Channel and France Télévisions and his films have been presented at various international festivals.

The AstraDoc movie nights will continue until May with prestigious films and guests. The second tranche of the festival includes appointments scheduled until April 21st with some Neapolitan preview films.

Friday 31 March, a double evening with "The shyness of hair" by Valentina Bertani at 21pm (Italy/Israel, 2022 – 96'), an innovative coming-of-age story of two charismatic twins, Benjamin and Joshua Israel, suffering from a cognitive disability, presented at the latest Venice Film Festival and nominated for the David di Donatello. The event, organized in collaboration with the Welfare Department of the Municipality of Naples, will feature the Councilor Luca Trapanese, the protagonist Benjamin Israel and the screenwriter Alessia Rotondo.

Also on March 31st, the evening will open at 19pm with the award-winning “Atlantis” by Yuri Ancarani (Italy/France, 2021 – 104'), also an experimental work, a visual journey, between reality and fiction, in group of young Venetians. The Astradoc Easter week moves to Wednesday 5 April with another double evening, created in collaboration with UCCA, focused on totalitarian regimes: at 19pm the historical reflection on fascism in "March on Rome" by Mark Cousins ​​(Italy, 2022 - 97'), seen at the latest Venice Film Festival, and at 21pm the cry for freedom of Iranian women in “Be My Voice” by Nahid Person (Sweden, 2021 – 90') on the story of the journalist Masih Alinejad and her commitment to give voice to the battle against dictatorship.

We then continue Friday 14nd April at 20.30am with “Il posto” by Mattia Colombo and Gianluca Matarrese (Italy/France, 2022 – 75') who will come to the Astra to present their documentary, a work with great international success, also in the running for the David, which , starting from Cava de Tirreni, recounts the movement of a multitude of nurses to seek their fortune in the North through public competitions. This second part of the review ends on Friday 21 April at 20.30pm with the special screening of “Wake Me Up at Midnight” by Francesco Patierno (Italy, 2022 – 71'), who will meet the public to present his original and exciting film based on the history of writer and journalist Fuani Marino, told in the autobiographical book of the same name published by Einaudi. AstraDoc will close with a month of special events until May 26th which will be announced in the last week of April.

"AstraDoc – Journey into the Cinema of Reality" is a documentary film festival curated by Arci Movie Napoli with Parallelo 41 Produzioni, the University of Naples Federico II, and COINOR, with the patronage of the City of Naples. Tickets are €4, reduced for Arci members €3.50. For information on Arci Movie: +39 081 5967493, info@arcimovie.it, http://www.arcimovie.it, WhatsApp 3346895990.