The film, presented for the first time out of competition at the 2020 Venice Biennale, is screened in Geneva at the cinema CINELUX
Paolo Conte is one of the world’s greatest bards of the Italian province and beyond. His songs form an imaginary world of the shades of the soul, of sound and of poetry. They are a kind of short film able to live a life of their own, because Conte takes you “Via con Me” (Come Away with Me) and captivates you with a show of varied art. The film tells of an eclectic figure across almost fifty years of career. An ideal journey, an interweaving of verses and music through the songs, the concerts, the friends and the reflections of the artist.
In the film there are contributions and words of homage from many friends and collaborators such as: Roberto Benigni, Vinicio Capossela, Caterina Caselli, Francesco De Gregori, Stefano Bollani, Pupi Avati, Luca Zingaretti, Renzo Arbore, Vincenzo Mollica, Lorenzo Jovanotti.
The director, Giorgio Verdelli, drew on the treasure of Conte’s personal archive, combining it with material made specially for the occasion: interviews and footage of the international tours. Through these images, the docu-film ventures into the verses of the songs, including those written for the most diverse performers (Adriano Celentano, Enzo Jannacci, Bruno Lauzi), as much as into the artist’s personal passions: jazz, puzzles, painting, law, cinema. It is a continuous discovery between the known and the unreleased, extraordinary verses and songs, that is to say the unique world of Paolo Conte.
This docu-film is a journey to recount an important piece of our emotional experience, through the infinite sentimental dimensions that Conte’s songs have taken on in our imagination. Particular care was devoted to the use of the music in the interviews and in the panoramic shots.
Some elements of the film represent important turning points in the music and personality of the artist, such as La Topolino amaranto (the amaranth-red little Fiat), symbol of the role of memory in Conte’s art, of the incessant dialogue between present and past. At the root of the project is a long interview with Conte, in which the accounts of characters, songs and human stories blend tenderness and irony.
Cinema: CINELUX, Bd de Saint-Georges 8, 1205 Geneva
Online presale: Buy here
Phone: +41 22 329 45 02
E-mail: contact@cinelux.ch
