Trailer
La Ricerca in the world
La Ricerca has travelled through the world's leading international documentary film festivals, earning recognition from critics and juries across Europe, the Americas and beyond.
«A research endeavour, an artistic undertaking and even a form of time travel — this beautiful quest defies rigid categorisation.»
— The Guardian (UK)
«Simultaneously modest and surprisingly vast, this film unfolds from the portrait of a man with a singular passion. Gradually, the anecdotal narrative subtly gives way to a profound and unique perspective on the world, on the history of humanity and on the very notion of art.»
— Jury statement, Grand Prix — Le FIFA, Montréal 2024
«Listening and imagination: these are the two precious qualities that Giuseppe Petruzzellis brings to the surface in his portrait of Luigi Lineri. Simplicity and wonder permeate the style of a film that knows how to pause, offering the viewer space for breath and meditation.»
— Giuseppe Di Salvatore — Filmexplorer (CH)
Festivals
World Premiere | Visions du Réel 2023 — medium-length film competition
Italian Premiere | Biografilm Festival 2023 — Biografilm Italia competition
Euganea Film Festival 2023 — feature film competition
Cervino Cinemountain 2023 — Italian competition
Film Festival della Lessinia 2023 — special event
Documentaria 2023 — Italian competition
Premio Libero Bizzarri 2023 — Italia Doc competition
French Premiere | PriMED 2023 — first film competition
North American Premiere | Le FIFA 2024 — international competition
South American Premiere | ARCA Film Festival 2025
Awards
Special Youth Jury Award — Visions du Réel 2023
Grand Prix — Le FIFA 2024
Special Mention Hera "New Talents" — Biografilm Festival 2023
Best Editing — Documentaria 2023
Andrea Pazienza Award — Premio Libero Bizzarri 2023
Participation in markets | workshops | development / production / post-production grants
In Progress | Milano Film Network — Development workshop (2016)
BioToB | Biografilm Festival — Market (2016)
IDS — Italian Doc Screenings | Doc/it — Training and market (2016)
Milano Industry Days | Milano Film Network — Winner of a development grant (2016)
Review | Cortona on the move — Development workshop (2019)
L'Atelier | Milano Film Network — Winner of a post-production grant (2021)
Director's Notes
I met Luigi Lineri and his artwork in early 2015. This encounter ignited an unprecedented marvel and a long series of questions. A spark that started the development of this film.
Luigi's masterpiece is a formidable tool to investigate universal themes. He has materialized a vast field of anthropological, philosophical and even political topics. Many of these contents are extremely urgent, especially our conflicting relationship with the ecosystem.
Shaping the film structure, I built on top of these elements. Recontextualized archival footage and evocative images/sounds work in an allusive fashion, further exploring the film's themes. It's a continuous and open dialogue with Luigi and with the audience.
La Ricerca deals with collective empowerment, reshaping lost memories to build a better future. This concern for conservation also regards the survival of the one-of-a-kind art installation created by Luigi Lineri. Given its peculiarities, there is the risk that it will disappear together with its author.
This film is a legacy of Luigi's life commitment to art, intended as a way of serving the universal human community.
All these motivations supported the long development process of this project, that lasted over 7 years. During this span of time, many professionals embraced this endeavor, in many cases as a passion project, as happened with the world-famous musician Nicolás Jaar, composer of the original film score.
PROTAGONIST
Luigi Lineri
Born in 1937 in Albaro di Ronco all’Adige (Verona, Italy). Third of 12 brothers, the father is a sacristan. Spends his childhood in a college in the mountains of Trentino Alto Adige. When he returns home he becomes attached to his grandmother, illiterate yet depositary of traditional rural values. During his twenties he starts to dedicate himself to poetry in dialect, painting and sculpture. He is awarded with several poetry awards of national relevance. His vases, paintings and ceramics achieve success: some of his artwork is exhibited at the Collection de l’Art Brut Museum (Lausanne, Switzerland). In 1964 he starts collecting stones. In 1966 he marries Tosca Guglielmi and during the seventies his daughters Genziana and Stella were born. After working in family’s shoe shop and then as a healthcare assistant at the Zevio Public Hospital (Verona), since 1985 he has dedicated himself solely to La Ricerca (his collection of stones). His cathedral-sized installation is a never-ending work in progress: every day new additions and rearrangments. Only in recent years La Ricerca starts to be studied by art critics. In 2010 the first exhibition: Forme solitarie per un’armonia collettiva (Palazzo dei Mutilati, Verona, Italy). In 2012 he participates in the collective exhibition Banditi dell’Arte (Halle Saint Pierre, Paris) and in 2014 in L’autre de l’Art (Lille Metropole Musée, Villneuve-d’Ascq, France). During 2016 Italian and foreign press talk about his artwork (La Repubblica, Reuters, Die Spiegel, Art Magazine, Artribune), and he is a guest on the tv programme Unomattina (RAI 1).
DIRECTOR
Giuseppe Petruzzellis
Giuseppe Petruzzellis (1983), BA and MA in Audiovisual Communication. From 2004 to 2009 he worked as an investigative journalist for the Italian National Public Broadcasting Company RAI. In 2007 he established APLYSIA, a production company specialised in creative documentaries. Since then he has collaborated on more than 70 film projects (20 features), working as screenwriter, producer, director, editor, cinematographer and colorist. Most of the feature films he has edited participated in major film festivals (Venice Biennale – Giornate degli autori | CPH:DOX* | Sheffield Doc Fest | Cinéma du Réel | etc.), were broadcasted on TV (RAI | Sky | Arte) and have had theatre releases in Italy. The short documentaries he has previously directed participated and were awarded at Ji.hlava IDFF | Milano Film Festival | MakeDox | Interfilm | Visioni dal Mondo | Hors Pistes - Centre Pompidou | etc.
La Ricerca is his debut feature film.
Selected Filmography
Wind and Water (in development - feature doc)
La Ricerca (2023 - feature doc)
Non ti scordar di me (2021 - short doc)
Indian Flow (2011 - short doc)
Industrial Bay (2009 - short doc)
Vida Loca (2007 - short doc - written and produced by)
Official website: www.giuseppepetruzzellis.com
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