Mapping Passion
Alberto Maria de Agostini, a Salesian missionary, came from Piedmont to Patagonia and Tierra del fuego (Land of Fire) in 1910. He was only 26. Moved by the majestic landscape of his homeland, he transformed from a simple priest to an explorer, a filmmaker and a photographer. He explored unknown lands, watching glaciers, peaks and fjords. However, his unusual, aesthetically sublime shots show something else still – a community of Indians a moment before their destruction by the colonizers.
Isabella Sandri and Giuseppe M. Gaudino, the directors of this poetic documentary, show de Agostini and his artefacts as keys to the past. The drawn faces of the Indians photographed by the priest reconstruct the memory of them and their extermination. The filmmakers invoke ghosts by contrasting contemporary images of the same locations with those of de Agostini, in an attempt to shear off layers of oblivion, read the traces of history that was to be erased from the materials left by the missionary. Fantasy mapping connects here with the archeology of memory.
Giuseppe M. Gaudino
Giuseppe M. Gaudino was born in 1957 in Pozzuoli, Italy and works as a director, screenwriter, producer, and stage designer. He studied production at the Art Academy in Naples and directing at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, making his directorial debut in 1983 with the documentary, Antrodoco, una storia per due battaglie. In 1997, he completed his first feature film Round the Moons Between Earth and Sea. He continues to direct mostly documentaries and short films.
Selected filmography
1983 Antrodoco, una storia per due battaglie (doc.)
1990 Calcinacci (doc., co-dir.)
1992 Joannis Amaelii, animula, vagula blandula (doc.)
1997 Giro di lune tra terra e mare / Round the Moons Between Earth and Sea
2004 Maquilas (doc., co-dir.)
2008 Storie d’armi e piccoli eroi (doc., co-dir.)
2010 Kartografia namiętności / Per questi stretti morire (ovvero cartografia di una passione) / Mapping Passion (doc., co-dir.)
Isabella Sandri
Isabella Sandri was born in 1957 in Rovigo. She is a director, screenwriter, and producer. A graduate of the University of Bologna and directing at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, between 1987 and 1996 she was a program director at the RAI TV station. She is an accomplished filmmaker with a number of awarded documentaries. Isabella completed her feature length debut, Upside Down World in 1994, and has been cooperating since 1988 with Giuseppe M. Gaudino.
Selected filmography
1984 Paesaggio domestico (short)
1990 Calcinacci (doc., co-dir.)
1995 Il mondo alla rovescia / Upside Down World
1997 Gli spiriti delle mille colline (doc.)
2000 Animali che attraversano la strada / Animals Crossing the Road
2003 La zattera di sabbia (doc.)
2004 Maquilas (doc., co-dir.)
2010 Kartografia namiętności / Per questi stretti morire (ovvero cartografia di una passione) / Mapping Passion (doc., co-dir.)