30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

"So one thing from another rises ever; And in fee-simple life is given to none, But unto all mere usufruct."  With these verses from Lucretius' De rerum natura opens The Blue Planet, a masterpiece by the Brescian director Franco Piavoli. It, too, is a poem, but one woven with images and sounds rather than words (knowingly excluded from the narration), which unfolds on three planes, three intertwined threads that weave a symphony reproducing the buzz of life itself. On the bottom, outlined with light touches, biological existence: light, water, plants, animals, men. Then the succession of nights and days, the passing of the seasons. Finally, naked and moving, dear and at the same time alien, the life of women and men: games, laughter, love, work, rest, cohabitation, aggressiveness. The eye-camera of Piavoli, with the detachment of love, collects everything and understands – identical and immortal – in the time of its filming, which is an hour or a year, a season, all the time in the world.

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  Franco Piavoli

  Franco Piavoli is an independent and self-taught director. After having abandoned the legal profession, he devoted himself to teaching and to documentary filmmaking. His debut, in later life, took place in 1982 due to the interest of his colleague and close friend, Silvano Agosti. The Blue Planet, presented at the Venice Film Festival, was received with enthusiasm, also collecting the praises of Andrej Tarkovskij.