IL CULTO DELLE PIETRE
THE CULT OF THE STONES
Luigi Di Gianni / Italy / 1967 / 14 min / Black and white
In the caves of a remote valley a few kilometres from Raiano, near Sulmona (a province of L'Aquila), mysterious rituals take place in honour of Saint Venantius. According to tradition, the saint lived in the caves whose stones, it is said, are still permeated with his miraculous gifts. For this reason, every year on the saint's day, the mysterious and ancient "Cult of the Stones" ceremony takes place. The faithful, rubbing against the cave walls, invoke the virtues of Saint Venantius so that their illnesses might be healed, thereby establishing a deep and almost familial relationship with the stone, in which they confide their sufferings.
Luigi Di Gianni
Born in Naples in 1926, he is an Italian director and documentarist. After earning a degree in directing from the Centro sperimentale di cinematografia in Rome, he worked above all on anthropological and social themes, documenting the reality of southern Italy in the '50s and '60s and also working with RAI. In 1967 he made Il culto delle pietre, which earned an award at the Festival dei popoli and was restored in 2013 at the Cineteca in Bologna.
Credits
Cinematography Mario CarboneEditing Giuliana BettoiaMusic Egisto MacchiProduction company Egle cinematografica
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