Bastian Esser

«Воины света» – религиозная секта монахов-католиков, бывших мастеров кунг-фу, которые не покидают стены монастыря вот уже двадцать лет. Каждый день они изнуряют себя тренировками, готовясь к финальной битве со злом. Режиссер Валентина Педичини получает беспрецедентный доступ в их закрытый мир.

The outbreak of the economic crisis in Spain led thousands of horses (a symbol of prestige in the years of plenty for nouveau-riches) to be abandoned by their owners. On the southeastern coast of Spain, a 45-year-old British woman, aided by her volunteer helpers, has set up a rescue farm; a modern-day Noah’s Arc that offers refuge and healing to undernourished and tortured horses (and other animals). A humble yet noble tale of perseverance and endurance and a parable for our times, which applies to people as well: once our shine comes off, society deems us redundant.

A smaller scale Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysées can be found just outside Shanghai; a copy of St. Peter’s in Rome can be found in Yamoussoukro, in the Ivory Coast: a journey over three continents to see the architecture of imitation, the uncanny world of the fake.

In the opening scene we are witness to an old man’s lament about a world he no longer understands. Subsequent sequences gradually introduce us to various inhabitants of an unspecified southern Italian village and to the many bizarre situations in which the characters of the three vaguely adumbrated stories appear. Although some of them meet on a daily basis, the viewer receives scant information about their relationships, let alone their lives, and with no plot context. Nevertheless, the tone generated by the artfully composed shots and musical accompaniment suggests something inauspicious, even subliminally disturbing. The film, the script of which earned director Caputo the Mattador International Screenwriting Award, seeks to explore the typical Italian provincial world where the effort to be new and modern clashes with a commitment to deeply rooted traditions.