Last Emperor

A walk through the immense private library of Italian writer and thinker Umberto Eco (1932-2016).

In 1983, Franz Paludetto acquired Rivara Castle at the foot of the Italian Alps. A century earlier, artists from all over Europe had gathered here to establish the Rivara School of Painting. We witness the story of Italy during the latter half of the 20th century.

In May 2017 Alessandro, the director's son, was born. It is a parenting that he and his life and cinema partner, Laura D'Amore, have intensely sought with a series of repeated, laborious, painful attempts to become the subject of a film, Vita Nova (2016). The couple decides to film the child during the first year of life, until he takes the first steps.

Hana, a shy sweet sixteen, is secretly in love with Mario, a schoolmate and half of popular youtube duo Luka & Mario. Hana observes the shoot in which Luka accidentally hurts Mario. Hana helps Mario with the wound, and gets invited to go with him and Luka to a lake where they will shoot a solar eclipse tomorrow.

Alberto Grifi, an experimental filmmaker, becomes aware of the experiments conducted by Dr. Kanudo, who, following in the footsteps of T. Leary and A. Huxley, documents the effects of psychotropic substances on the human mind. In collaboration with engineer Norsen, Dr. Kanudo invents a machine capable of visualizing mental images. The scientist's goal is to document, in a mirrored manner, the mental experience under the influence of ketamine, a substance known for its hallucinogenic and dissociative effects. Dr. Kanudo agrees to have the experiment filmed. The filmmaker also takes on the task of finding two patients to take ketamine and attends a rave party, where he documents the use of the substance in such gatherings. Meanwhile, in the laboratory, everything is progressing well until an unexpected reaction from the second patient to the administration of the drug and a raid by the authorities threaten to derail the situation.

The incredible story of the reconstruction, after the collapse caused by a storm in 1953, of the spire of the Mole Antonelliana, monument and symbol of the city of Turin, Italy.

A portrait in the past and in the present of Turin which in 1961 was the scene of the international labor exhibition. In that period, an entire neighborhood was built to celebrate the progress and well-being of Italy during the economic boom. '61 was also the year in which immigration from the south to northern Italy reached its peak. Today with the poet Mohamed Amin Bour, we cross these places like aliens coming from a future that already appears old, to reflect on what is left of that promise of progress.

A journey through a century of Ambrosoli family history.