Set in current times the story is about Narciso, alias “Ciso”, a mountain man who, after his wife’s death, brought up his only son by himself. But he no longer has a relationship with his son who has disappeared from his life. After 20 years of silence his son returns home with his Muslim wife and a child. The young woman, coming into contact with the mountain peasant culture, finds many differences and contrasts but also acceptance and mutual respect.
“The idea of the project,” says Marcello Baldi, “originated from my wish to show an act of love towards my land. Ciso is a film about my mountains, nature and a simple life made of relationships and meeting with people. The story also includes an important topic, the reconciliation between different faiths. The protagonist is my age, 84, and a mountain man, a man living in an alpine summer house, who tries to live his life to the full. He is a man who accepts, at times endures the modern times, but has his roots in the past for which he tries to act as go-between. He tries to be a bridge between culture, emotions, past thoughts and today’s people”.
The film has an outstanding cast. The role of Ciso is played by a great cinema and theatre actor Roberto Herlitzka, (who played the role of Aldo Moro in Buongiorno notte by Bellocchio), the son Tommaso is played by the young Alessandro di Natali, and the role of his partner is played by the Indian actress Amina Syed, recently protagonist of the film Cento chiodi by Olmi. Next to them and five other professional actors, there is the mass participation of the local population, including a child of Indian origins who now lives with his family in Trento and plays the role of Ciso’s grandson. And then there are amateur actors and the whole community for the choral scenes.”
The film is set in the villages and mountains of Lagorai, produced in collaboration with the Autonomous Province of Trento and sponsored by the Trentino Municipalities of Carzano, Telve, Telve di Sopra and Torcegno.
Directors
Dario Baldi
Dario Baldi was born in Rome in 1976. He was brought up in a family ever devoted to cinema and from the very beginning showed a natural disposition to move between the set and the moviola. After having done all kinds of work on the set including editing (he collaborated with internationally famous names in cinema, such as Altman) he devoted himself to documentary film making and cinema. He wrote and made some documentaries, including Managers (1998) and the full-length film Pablo, based on Pablo Neruda’s life, which participated in the Festival of Montreal, and in the AFI Film Festival of Los Angeles. He then moved to England for five years where he worked as a director for Universal Music, BBC, Channel 4 and Turner, as well as other major cinema and television organisations. In 2007 he opened the image studio Torcida, collaborated on the film Zero (with Dario, Lella Costa and Moni Ovadia) and made the rock-documentary Dallaltrapartedellaluna, based on the birth and rise of the rock group Negramaro, with whom he has collaborated since, making several award winning videoclips for them and other artists. In 2008, with his father Marcello, he made the film Narciso, dietro i cannoni, davanti ai muli, winner of the International Film Festival of Salerno and of the Festival of Ravello.
MARCELLO BALDI
Marcello Baldi was born in Telve Valsugana (Trento) in 1923. He graduated in History and the Literature of Popular Traditions. Director for the cinema and theatre he worked in Rome with several production companies and with RAI. In the field of mountain film he is remembered for having directed the masterpiece Italia K2 in 1954, a film of the Italian conquest of K2 and Terra delle Dolomiti, winner of the silver rhododendron at TrentofilmFestival in 1953.
He started his career as a director and screenwriter and worked as assistant with the documentary film-makers Antonio and Vincenzo Sorelli and the director Romolo Marcellini. He worked for several years at the Centro Cattolico Cinematografico, during and after the Second World War, shooting about the “current affairs" of the Vatican and Castelgandolfo, thus developing a solid technique in documentary film-making. He became assistant director of Lionello De Felice, collaborating with Romolo Marcellini and Giorgio Simonelli. After the documentary, La morte ha viaggiato con me, Baldi started to direct educational religious films, among which is the noteworthy Saul e David (1965), for the detailed, scrupulous and critical reconstruction of the biblical tale. In the ‘70s he started to work for television, gaining audience popularity with Le evasioni celebri: Benvenuto Cellini (1972). In his long career he made over 30 full-length films and over a hundred documentary films including: Guerra alla guerra (1946), La leggenda di Merisana (1953), Maciste l’uomo più forte al mondo (1961), I grandi condottieri (1965), Stuntman (1968), Diario di un giudice (1978), Sapore di gioia (1989) and La patrie dal Friul (2006).
Marcello Baldi died in July 2008, just before completing his film Ciso with his son Dario.
MARCELLO BALDI
Marcello Baldi was born in Telve Valsugana (Trento) in 1923. He graduated in History and the Literature of Popular Traditions. Director for the cinema and theatre he worked in Rome with several production companies and with RAI. In the field of mountain film he is remembered for having directed the masterpiece Italia K2 in 1954, a film of the Italian conquest of K2 and Terra delle Dolomiti, winner of the silver rhododendron at TrentofilmFestival in 1953.
He started his career as a director and screenwriter and worked as assistant with the documentary film-makers Antonio and Vincenzo Sorelli and the director Romolo Marcellini. He worked for several years at the Centro Cattolico Cinematografico, during and after the Second World War, shooting about the “current affairs" of the Vatican and Castelgandolfo, thus developing a solid technique in documentary film-making. He became assistant director of Lionello De Felice, collaborating with Romolo Marcellini and Giorgio Simonelli. After the documentary, La morte ha viaggiato con me, Baldi started to direct educational religious films, among which is the noteworthy Saul e David (1965), for the detailed, scrupulous and critical reconstruction of the biblical tale. In the ‘70s he started to work for television, gaining audience popularity with Le evasioni celebri: Benvenuto Cellini (1972). In his long career he made over 30 full-length films and over a hundred documentary films including: Guerra alla guerra (1946), La leggenda di Merisana (1953), Maciste l’uomo più forte al mondo (1961), I grandi condottieri (1965), Stuntman (1968), Diario di un giudice (1978), Sapore di gioia (1989) and La patrie dal Friul (2006).
Marcello Baldi died in July 2008, just before completing his film Ciso with his son Dario.