The Dead Remain with Their Mouth Open
The cinematic flâneur Fabrizio Ferraro embarks on another unusual journey around the edges of film, following in the footsteps of persecuted loners. His minimalist "war film" closes the military trilogy, which includes Les Unwanted de Europa (2018, Lost Lost Lost 20th NH) and Checkpoint Berlin (2020). In 1944, four resistance fighters navigate the snowy trails of the Italian Marsicani mountains. Caught in the whirlwind of history, suspended in emptiness and timelessness, they are exhausted and awaiting liberation. Along their journey, they encounter a young woman. Her presence sometimes stirs anxiety, at other times evokes warmer feelings. Who is she? Is she who she claims to be? Can differing opinions about her identity and the significance of this encounter disrupt their male solidarity? However, the film isn't about solving this mystery. As the director claims, I try to make films that capture fragments of life, even if that means making choices that I know in advance will not be accepted. But that's a risk that must be taken if the work is to have its own form that isn't subject to the trends and values of the time. It doesn't matter if that means remaining marginalized.
Fabrizio Ferraro
Fabrizio Ferraro is an Italian director, screenwriter, and documentary and feature filmmaker. He made his full-length debut in 2009 with the documentary Je suis Simone (La condition ouvrière), which deals with the work of Simone Weil. The film won an award at the festival in Turin. Two years later, he made his first full-length feature, Penultimo paesaggio, which tells the story of a chance meeting of a woman and a man in Paris. At Checkpoint Berlin, he focused on the phenomenon of the Berlin Wall. His film Les Unwanted de Europa was presented at New Horizons in the Lost Lost section in 2020, and The Luminous View in the Discoveries section in 2021. In his films, he often explores the relationship between humans and architecture and the landscape.
Selected filmography
2009 Je suis Simone (La condition ouvrière) (doc.)
2011 Penultimo paesaggio
2016 Colossale Sentimento (doc.)
2018 Niechciani w Europie / Gli indesiderati d'Europa / Les Unwanted de Europa
2020 Checkpoint Berlin (doc.)
2022 Otwarte usta umarłych / I morti rimangono con la bocca aperta / The Dead Remain with Their Mouth Open