Pressbook

FILM GRAD
LEONARDO
A FILM BY PAOLO DE FALCO
selected to compete in the
26° Torino Film Festival Sez: italiana.doc
and Bif&st Film Festival - Bari 2009
Abruzzo Film festival 2009
Docucity Milano 2012 (special Mention)
Duration 1h e 15’ long version e 30’ short version - Format HD 16:9. Year of production 2008
GRAD ZERO
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LOGLINE
A portrait of Chinese people living in the city of Bari. Different and emblematic stories telling of the spirit
and beauty behind a silent presence. Such as that of Leonardo, a baby who is to be born to a mixed couple.
A documentary about the future.
SYNOPSIS
Bari. 2008. A month in the life of some Chinese people, suspended in the period between the Italian and
Chinese New Years.
A widowed woman in the Temporary Welcoming Centre, two concentrated and romantic musicians who
study in the Conservatory and whose sensitive gazes cross the city, a group of children rehearsing for a play
in the Evangelical Church, a beautiful and observant baby, a journalist trying to make Chinese culture more
well known in Italy, a mixed couple awaiting the birth of their child, Leonardo, who decide to hold a multiethnic New Year in the school where they teach.
A typical city in the south of Italy, an old barber and a young sociologist, two rather significant
representatives of the local area who observe and draw very different conclusions about the Chinese
community.
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
I met many babies while filming. And in particular Leonardo, who gave his name to this film, who I saw, or
rather felt in his mother’s belly, to then see him make his entrance here… into our world. The filming ended
with his birth, as the film itself ends with his stare that observes us.
Leonardo is the son of a charming Chinese teacher and pianist mother, and a generous Italian father. His
future is an enigma. But it was exactly this about which I wanted to speak.
Is it possible to make a documentary about the future?
Often those who make documentaries deal with the past, of memories. I created this work constantly
thinking about the future and casual encounters, more probably subconsciously chosen encounters with
several new born babies, is evidence of this.
Leonardo will have an identity that is fruit of a mix of cultures, of which there have been many in the history
of the world, but for some unknown reason, when I saw him I was very emotional, attracted to him in his
role as a pioneer, the conqueror of a different land.
Bari, the Puglia region, today’s Italy is a very static place.
Yet Leonardo was born here and this is more than just a good omen or a hope: it is an act of conquest, an act
of force.
It is not so much about my personal pleasure in imagining life in a world full of mixed cultures, mixed blood,
mixed social codes and diverse experiences, as the fact that this is happening, and is happening in front of
and despite the forces trying to oppose this mix.
And this is the most convincing reply, a reply that silences the opposition and needs not be discussed. At least
that’s how it seems to me.
The tendency of the society should be so: we should all live well but at the moment there are so many problems. We Chinese say
so: both the teeth and tongue are part of the body but sometimes the teeth hurt tongue, then there are problems... Only that we
should try to solve them.
In my opinion the person is not conditioned by the place where he is, but by his character. We can not say that there are good and
bad people in one place, nor can we assess the people as something "fixed" forever. By this, I mean, that there are good and bad
people everywhere... everything is relative. We all want to feel better tomorrow.
Yu Bin
Among teachers Chinese and Italian, I think, there is this difference: the Chinese masters, how can I say, they give you all the
knowledge they have. Instead Italians make it you find, that you develop in this knowledge. They wonder you why, that push you
to wonder why...
Jiang Lei
It... Chinese culture is based on work, do not on say... on the words, this is the difference: we have much thought, you more action.
Then you teach Chinese, she is starting now here… one day we can make an institute of Chinese culture in Bari...
Francesco Venticaldi
... Because no foreigner, apart from very rare exceptions, he attended neither we attend them... this is the truth. Just as we attend
very few workers, we attend no salespeople and orders, bartenders and barmaids. Because we lost souls, because we no longer have
much time...
Leonardo Palmisano
The Jury of Docucity 2012, chaired by Marco Bechis and composed by Roberto Escobar, Gianfilippo
Pedote, Patrizia Rappazzo and Georg Zeller has decided to award a Special Mention to: Leonardo by Paolo
De Falco, for the following reasons:
"A mature and pledged work that captures the conviviality serene integration and tells the Chinese community through an insight
that goes beyond the myths and clichés. And that puts us, Italians, in the mirror showing us through the eyes of another culture. "
TECHNICAL INFO
Original title LEONARDO
International title LEONARDO
Year of production 2008
Country of production Italy
Duration 80 min.
Betadigital Format SP - PAL (16:9) Colore
Original format Sony HDV
The film has conversations in Italian and Chinese.
With Italian subtitles.
There is also a version with English subtitles.
CREDITS
Original title LEONARDO
International title LEONARDO
Director Paolo De Falco
Production company Film Grad and Teca del Mediterraneo
Producers Fabio Parente and Paolo De Falco
Screenplay Paolo De Falco
Director of photography Paolo De Falco
Editing Malgorzata Alicja Gudzikowska and Paolo De Falco
Musiche Fantasia improvvisa by F.Chopin played by Rèntíng Zhang
Suite for violino, clarinet and piano by D. Milhaud
Mò lì hua traditional Chinese song played and sung by Rèntíng Zhang
Improvisations by Jiang Lei.
Cadenza di Concerto by A. Copland played by Jiang Lei.
Traditional Chinese song, sung by Wei Wei
Interpreters (in order of apparition) Giuseppe Panaro, Rèntíng Zhang, Jiang Lei, Jiang Chunyan,
Jiang Fumei, Francesco Venticaldi, Jiang Nuo, Lin Tingting, Wei Wei,
Yi lì Chén, Anna Maria Guerriero, Vito della Valle di Pompei, Palma Pesce, Ibrahim
Abdalla, Sergio Basso, Andrea Polignano, Pueisan Hui, Leonardo Palmisano, Donato Cìola,
Franco Cìola, Vito Eramo, Yu Bin, Jié Zhang, Yun Lin, Elisa Barucchieri, Anna Moscatelli,
Patrizia Schettini, Rossella Cavalieri, Pinuccio Sinisi, Leonardo Venticaldi.
TITOLI DI TESTA
Film Grad e Teca del Mediterraneo
Presentano un film di Paolo De Falco
LEONARDO
Prodotto da Fabio Parente e Paolo De Falco
Con Rèntíng Zhang Francesco Venticaldi Jiang Lei Wei Wei
E con Jiang Chunyan Jiang Nuo Leonardo Palmisano Donato Cìola Ibrahim Abdalla Yu Bin
TITOLI DI CODA
Leonardo
Con e per Leonardo Venticaldi
e con (in ordine di apparizione)
Giuseppe Panaro, Rèntíng Zhang, Jiang Lei, Jiang Chunyan, Jiang Fumei, Francesco Venticaldi, Jiang Nuo,
Lin Tingting, Wei Wei, Yi lì Chén, Anna Maria Guerriero, Vito della Valle di Pompei, Palma Pesce,
Ibrahim Abdalla, Sergio Basso, Andrea Polignano, Pueisan Hui, Leonardo Palmisano, Donato Cìola, Franco
Cìola, Vito Eramo, Yu Bin, Jié Zhang, Yun Lin,
Elisa Barucchieri, Anna Moscatelli, Patrizia Schettini, Rossella Cavalieri, Pinuccio Sinisi,
Leonardo Venticaldi.
Aiuto regia e interprete Sergio Basso
Suono in presa diretta Angelo Pantaleo
Fotografia e camera Paolo De Falco
Montaggio Malgorzata Alicja Gudzikowska e Paolo De Falco
Prodotto da Fabio Parente e Paolo De Falco
Regia Paolo De Falco
Il documentario è stato realizzato con il sostegno di Teca del Mediterraneo, Biblioteca Multimediale e
Centro di Documentazione del Consiglio Regionale della Puglia.
E con il sostegno di Apulia Film Commission
E con il Patrocinio dell’Assessorato Pubblica Istruzione, Politiche giovanili,
Politiche per l’infanzia, Accoglienza e pace del Comune di Bari
E con la collaborazione del VI Istituto Tecnico Commerciale e Linguistico Statale “Marco Polo” di Bari. E
della Capitaneria del porto di Bari
Musiche Fantasia improvvisa di F.Chopin
Suite per violino clarinetto e piano di D. Milhaud
Mò lì hua canzone tradizionale cinese suonata da Rèntíng Zhang
Improvvisazioni di Jiang Lei
Cadenza di Concerto di A. Copland suonata da Jiang Lei.
Canzone tradizionale cinese cantata da Wei Wei
Traduzioni dal cinese
Zheng Longshan
Montaggio del suono e missaggio Luigi Porto
Colorist Maurizio Tiella e Roberto Grifoni
Ottimizzazione digitale Cristiano Gerbino e Roberto Grifoni
Assistenti al montaggio Matteo Scrimieri
Assistente alla produzione e sottotitoli in inglese Arianna L’Abbate
Post-produzione video Film Grad - Fake#Factory – Digital one
Post-produzione audio Movie sound editor
Mezzi tecnici More productions
Si ringraziano in modo particolare
Maria Abenante, Waldemaro Morgese
e Angelo Amoroso D’aragona, Lino Angiuli, Angela Brucoli, Tenente Tommaso Capodiferro, Paolo De
Cesare, Massimo Dell’Erba, Iker Filomarino, Ammiraglio Salvatore Giuffrè,
Silvia Godelli, Antonio Guida, Marilena Gulletta, Li Pei Hong, Francesco Losacco
Pasquale Martino, Domenico Rodolfo, Maresciallo Michele Saracino, Maria Paola Spinelli
Luigi Tenore, Francesca Tritto, Dhurata Vreshtazi
Ristoranti Il Sole Rosso e la famiglia Zhang
Ristoranti China Town, Drago d’oro, Fang Xiang, Mandarino, Pechino.
Un forte ringraziamento inoltre a tutti coloro che hanno partecipato direttamente e indirettamente alla
produzione. In particolare la comunità cinese di Bari e tutte le persone che ci hanno accolto nelle loro case,
negozi e ristoranti.
© Grad zero- Film Grad - Consiglio Regionale della Puglia. Teca del Mediterraneo
Tutti i diritti riservati. (2008)
Il film fa parte dell’Archivio liquido dell’identità
CURRICULUM OF THE DIRECTOR
Paolo De Falco born in Novoli (Lecce) in 1965 - e-mail: [email protected]
Paolo De Falco's artistic formation started with theatre and music.
He studied dance, music and acting, meeting along the way: E. De Filippo, L. de Berardinis, P. Stein, C. Bene,
P. Brook, J. Grotowsky, C. Quartucci and T. Kantor, amongst others.
During this period of study he graduated from the Sapienza University in Rome, in History of Theatre.
He was awarded a scholarship from the Foreign Ministry and studied Directing at the Academy of Theatre in Krakov,
and in Cricoteka, the Headquaters and Archive of Cricot 2 Theatre, collaborating with a company created by
T.Kantor.
From a very young age (he debued at 20 with Il grande Blek (The Big Blek) by G. Piccioni) he also worked as an actor,
firstly for film and then for theatre in diverse productions. He then put on numerous shows and performances abroad as
well as in Italy.
After creating theatrical videos he shot his first short, Il Ponte (The Bridge), in Albania, taken from a story by F. Kafka and
presented in diverse Festivals in 2002. In 2005 he directed his first documentary film, Stella Loca, filmed in Buenos Aires
and presented at Rome Film Festival, Festival del Cinema Latino Americano di Trieste and at Doc for sale in
Amsterdam. Between 2006 and 2010 he made a series of documentaries on italian emigration, in Argentina, Chile and
Brasil that become part of The Liquid Archive of Identity created by Grad zero, for which he is artistic director.
And he directed two documentary film: Leonardo selected to compete in the 26° Torino Film Festival and Bif&st Film
Festival - Bari 2009 and Via Appia selected to compete in the 28° Torino Film Festival.
Out of competition Panorama Bif&st Bari 2011. Special event out of competition XII Festival del Cinema Europeo di
Lecce. Selected to compete in the ViaEmiliadocfest 2011. Review Fata Morgana C.A.M.S. di Cosenza 2011. Selected
to compete for the final phase of the Doc / IT Professional Award, given by the professional category at the best
documentary of the year.
Paolo De Falco is also a musician.
He was a part of the Fools (who featured in a compilation of the best italian rock of 1993-94) and in M.T.U. (2000).
He composed for diverse choreographys : R. Mazzotta, A.P. Bacalov, F. Scavetta etc.
From 1994 he was an artistic director of diverse workshops, artistic residences and festivals that moved at the confines between
various creative languages, also taking care of artisitc pedagogy.
He wrote Anche i pesci balleranno (Even fish will dance) a diary-book on theatrical work for Argo Editors (1999)
DIRECTOR FILMOGRAPHY:
Damagò 1990. Video of the homonym performance of P. De Falco produced by C.T.A. of University
“La Sapienza” Rome (Italy 1990)
What is a miracle? (short) from Pinocchio by Collodi produced by Argo editors (Italy 1995)
Due mediometraggi in collaboration with the children in a junior and primary school. Lecce (Italy1998)
The Crows Video of the homonym performance of A.P. Bacalov. Prod. Film Grad. (Italy 1999)
The Bridge (short) From a story by F. Kafka. Coprod. Film Grad, Saietta Film, Province of Lecce. (Albania 2002)
I give myself in (short) From a story by I. Calvino. Coprod. Film Grad and Cinit Cineforum. (Italy 2003)
A lesson on darkness Video of the performance of M. Sambati. Coprod. Dark Camera and Film Grad (Italy 2003)
Poets Video. Produced by La Manifattura (Italy 2003)
La Manifattura Video-diary. Prod. Film Grad. (Italy 2003)
Stella loca ( documentary film) Prod. Film Grad (Argentina 2006)
Angel of the Night (short) Prod. Film Grad (Italy 2006)
Roots and Frontiers (Documentary) Prod. Film Grad in collab. with the Region of Puglia and the Foreign Ministry
(Argentina 2007)
Leonardo (Documentary) Prod. Film Grad and Teca del Mediterraneo (Italy 2008)
White Frontier (Documentary) Prod. Film Grad in collab. with Region of Puglia (Chile 2009)
The Cockrel always sings (documentary film) Prod. Film Grad (Italia-Turchia-Argentina-w. in progress)
Fabula do fronteira (Documentary) Prod. Film Grad in collab. with Region of Puglia (Brasil 2009.)
Via Appia - The Appian Way) Prod. Film Grad in collab. With the Commune of Rome, Province of Caserta, Teca
del Mediterraneo, Apulia Film Commission, Region of Puglia. (Italy 2010)
DIRECTING THEATRE
Damagò 1990 Ateneo Theatre Rome (1990) Prod. C.T.A. dell’Un. “La Sapienza” Rome.
Die freunde 1918 Festival of Avignone (Fr) (1990)
Performances in Italy, Poland, Czechoslovakia, France (1991-1995)
Apri Caronte, Je suis lunaire Castello Carlo v di Lecce. Prod. Commune of Lecce. (1993)
It's in here! created in a laboratory at a young offendors prison in Lecce (‘94). Ufficial Mention Minist. Grazia e Giustizia.
Performances or gradazioni (various titles) even though these various performances changed and evolved they
still conformeed to a kind of common shell (1995-97)
Even Fish will dance Produced by the Ministry of Culture and the Lazio Region (1998)
Shot in the Rain Produced by Sosta Palmizi in collabor. with Toscana Danza, Ministry of Culture, Kismet Theatre in
Bari and Briciole Theatre in Parma. (1999)
The Market of the Wind A coprod. La Manifattura Residenza for Grad zero, The Residence of the Lazio Region in Tuscany
Theatre and the Province of Lecce. In collaboration with the Theatre of Kismet in Bari. (2001)
ACTOR FILMOGRAPHY:
Il grande Blek (The Big Blek) by G. Piccioni (winner of the Festival of Sorrento and the Nastro d'Argento in Taormina)
Nulla ci può fermare (Nothing can stop us) by A. Grimaldi
Russicum by P. Squitieri
Giotto by R. Leoni
La sposa di San Paolo (The wife of St.Paul) by G. Rosaleva
18 anni fra un giorno by L. Perelli
ACTING IN THEATRE
I giganti della montagna (The giants of the mountains) by Pirandello, Director C. Quartucci. Valle Roma Theatre
Tamerlano by Marlowe Director, C. Quartucci. Festival of the Arts of Erice (Tr.)
Macbeth by Shakespeare (study) Director C. Quartucci Ateneo Theatre Roma
GRAD ZERO
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