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Tra Ponente e Levante
a documentary by
Lorenzo Giordano
Produced by:
So What Pictures and Plancton Studio
With the contribution of:
Mediateca Regionale Ligure
Fondazione Genova Liguria Film Commission
Fondazione Ansaldo
Comune di Sestri Levante
Santa Cruz Sister Cities Committee, California
Dante Alighieri Society of Santa Cruz
140 backers with a winning crowdfunding campaign
Developed with:
Archidoc LA FEMIS Paris
MEDIA Program of the European Union
With the patronage of:
Museo Navale Internazionale di Imperia
Sistema Museale Integrato di Sestri Levante e Castiglione Chiavarese
Comune di Sestri Levante
Comune di La Spezia
Comune di Imperia
Associazione Nazionale Marinai d’Italia
Società Economica di Chiavari
Logline
An Italian village, an island of the mainland between the mountains and the sea. A place where past
and present merge together, where the drawers overflow with sailing memories and pictures of loved ones far away, where huge ships are launched and historical dockyards are demolished. A poetic
vision of the past and the present through the eyes of a collector of memories.
A journey into an unknown and magic world, to discover a still-relevant past that perhaps is not yet
lost.
Synopsis
The void of destruction gives way to memory.
After much searching, we found our own history just when we thought we had lost it for good. This
is the story of Riva Trigoso, a small village in Liguria - a mainland island hemmed in between the
mountains and the sea - reconstructed through the memories of his fellow villagers and of Lazzarin’,
the greatest collector of memorabilia.
In his house the rooms follow one another cluttered with model ships, the shelves groan under the
weight of the navy books, the drawers overflow with projects and on the bed lays a pair of binoculars
to scan the horizon. The taste for adventure of his fellow villagers, who lived off fishing and trading in
the Mediterranean and left for the world on ships they had built themselves, lives in his archives in a
journey that has endured for more than a century.
Director’s notes
I have started following this path already four years ago after shooting the demolition of a shipyard in
Riva Trigoso. I had the feeling that something important was going to be lost forever and by looking
for news on recent event I discovered the existence of some archives where thousands of pictures,
letters, videos and stories are collected, kept in some drawers of private houses. This reserach gave
me the opportunity of meeting some of those collectors of memories and stories about the art of navigation exclusively from Riva. The most jealous guardian of these memories is Lazzarin, an elderly,
elegant and reserved gentleman. His archive it has proved to be an incredibile mine of information
throught wich is possible to recreate 150 years of history. This small isolated town, in fact, about a
mile long, it has been famous in the past among seafarer around the world as the most individual
grouping of Liguria, or even perhaps Italy (quote by Gio Bono Ferrari, Sea and Vessels Captain of the
nineteeth century, 1939 from Liguria). Not only with its migrants it has created a colony of fishermen in Santa Cruz California and fleet of ocean liner, cargo ships, military and fishing vessels with
its shipyards but it also was the birthplace of boatwains and protagonist of the Italian history. Like
for instance Agostino Ghio, Lazzarin’s uncle, who after spending almost all his life as vessels’ helmsman around the world, he became the cook of the laboratory vessel Elettra by Guglielmo Marconi,
moored a few miles from Riva. The shooting of today will follow Lazzarin during his days organizing
papers and photos, preparing his breakfast with an eye always on the horizon. The house where Lazzarin spends his days becomes the starting point from which the narrative unfolds throught privates
records, but also throught institutional archives difficult to access; the contents are as diverse as
photographs, home videos, postcards and memorabilia, radio and music records. Riva Trigoso is my
country. I was born and raised here and still very young I left searching for broader horizons, retracing my fellow citizen’ tracks. This is also the reason why, in this journey backwards trhought time,
my voice will come along the documentary images.
Biography
Im an independent photographer and filmmaker.
In 2011 I was selected to work with some of the most important photographers in the world as Donovan Wilye, Harry Gruyaert and Mark Power (Magnum Photos Agency) for a long term photographic
survey focusing on contemporary Italy, which gave rise to the travelling exhibition “L’Italia e gli Italiani” and to a photo book. In 2015 I had the chance to work closely with the american most important
street photographer, Alex Webb (Magnum Photos Agency) for the creation of a visual book about
Ligurian workers. In the 2015 I also finally done my first feature documentary film ‘Life in Riva’. In
2012 I founded So What Pictures, an Italian Multimedia Production Company based in Rome.
My professional studies:
Master in documentary cinema with Pietro Marcello and Sara Fgaier at Conero Doc Campus in 2010.
Masterclass in direction with Wim Wenders and during the 2009 edition of Bergman Week.
Investigation about set photography with Donata Wenders during the shoot of “Palermo shooting”
directed by Wim Wenders.
In 2012 I was selected by La Fèmis Academy for the intense documentary workshop ARCHIDOC with
my first documentary feature film project ‘Life in Riva’.
Production notes
‘Life in Riva’ is an independent documentary film.
Is produced by Lorenzo Giordano, So What Pictures and Plancton Studio.
To this day it has been supported from Mediateca Regionale Ligure of La Spezia, Fondazione Genova
Liguria Film Commission, Fondazione Ansaldo, City of Santa Cruz, Sisters Cities Committee of Santa
Cruz, Dante Alighieri Society of SC, City of Sestri Levante and a community of 132 people with a winning crowdfunding campaign.
Technical Sheet
Original Title: ‘Tra Ponente e Levante.
Avventure di mare, memorie private, archeologia industriale a Riva Trigoso
English Title: ‘Life in Riva. The Maritime Memories of Riva Trigoso’
Documentary
2015, Italy, 58’
DCP, Color and Black & White
Status: Complete
Screen Ratio: 16:9
Subtitles: Inglese, italiano
Credits
Direction and Cinematography: Lorenzo Giordano
Script: Margherita Garrone, Lorenzo Giordano
Additional script: Paola Rota
Editing: Enrico Giovannone, Ippolito Simion
Sound: Simonluca Laitempergher
Producer: Ines Vasiljevic
www.sowhatpictures.com
www.lifeinriva.com
- So What Pictures Via Placido Zurla 49/B
00176 ROMA
lorenzo@sowhatpictures.com
tel. +39 339 3967 086
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Listen
La Repubblica
http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2014/06/25/tra-ponente-e-levante-documentario-in-societaGenova10.html
La Stampa
http://www.lastampa.it/2014/07/28/societa/mare/alla-ricerca-della-memoria-un-film-su-un-paese-di-mare-Vd4Si5MuPtQuiBHpSjWd7N/pagina.html
Il Secolo XIX
http://www.ilsecoloxix.it/p/levante/2014/09/29/AR6MIj6B-crowdfunding_ponente_levante.shtml
Il Secolo XIX
http://www.ilsecoloxix.it/p/levante/2014/03/14/AQmLG85B-storica_piange_lazzaro.shtml
Genova Mentelocale
http://genova.mentelocale.it/60292-genova-riva-trigoso-ponente-levante-riva-anni-40-docufilm/
Sanremo News
http://www.sanremonews.it/2014/08/03/leggi-notizia/argomenti/altre-notizie/
articolo/imperia-sabato-9-agosto-al-museo-navale-memorie-di-mare-tra-ponente-e-levante.html
Tigullio News
http://www.tigullionews.com/index.php/sestri/tra-ponente-e-levante-anteprima-del-docufilm-di-lorenzo-giordano-062522180
Imperia Post
http://www.imperiapost.it/57636/imperia-seconda-tappa-della-raccolta-fondi-per-la-realizzazione-del-documentario-tra-ponente-e-levante-di-giordano
Cinema Italiano
http://www.cinemaitaliano.info/news/33874/note-di-regia-di-tra-ponente-e-levante.html
Press Review
sources
La Repubblica
Il Secolo XIX
Il Nuovo Levante