At the First Breath of Wind

Visual ode to contemplative journey through the stages of life and the essence of human existence, set in a timeless backdrop of an Italian village.

A look at the passage of time through the changing seasons, human evolution and everyday life.

Documentary by Franco Piavoli based on the correspondence between Italian poets Alessandro Parronchi and Umberto Bellintani.

Eternal and cyclical movement. A young woman crosses the seasons. With his 8mm Paillard, Piavoli starts his poetic journey with a drawn-out gaze on nature, which condenses passing time into a single shot.

At the end of the war, Odysseus, the wandering hero, with his companions begins his sail back home to the Mediterranean. The conclusion of his adventure is delayed by many natural obstacles and he takes an internal journey of fleeting memories of his childhood, his parents, love for a beautiful girl, nostalgia for the past, regret for what he did, and the deep silence that envelops everything. He confronts the most terrible loneliness following a shipwreck in which all the comrades perish.

Documentary about sustainable agriculture and food.

A man walks with his child on the grass of a hill. He reaches an old country house, where years before he had spent his childhood during World War II. The deserted and desolate rooms make him travel back in memory to the time when the war was ending. Episodes of family life pass before his eyes: father, mother, grandmother and six children, of which he, Silvano, the youngest, was made mute by the shock of a bomb exploding...

The aging, conservative population of a small, sleepy village in the Italian Alps are surprised to see that a former French professor has settled there with his young wife and their three children to produce goat cheese, in order to escape the wrongs of civilization. At first they are suspicious of his unconventional ideas and lifestyle, then are conquered by the enthusiasm, kindness, helpfulness of the young family and start to see in them a possible rebirth of the place. But little by little misunderstandings, envy and conflicts take over.

Throughout the seasons, the work of a farmer in his vegetable garden, from the seed to its fruit.

A zebu disappears while children are drawing it. They find it again in the woods. The notes of a harp accompany their multi-coloured joy. This short was made with children from a nursery school in Mantua. Playing with colours, the children seem to conquer the world.

Through interviews with prostitutes, transsexuals, marginalized people, and the disabled, the director tells a series of stories about sexuality and feelings. An investigation that becomes a quest to explore the other side of love.

A forerunner of Al Primo Soffio Di Vento. Observations along the riverside, the flow of water, the stasis of life, and the emergence of a teenager’s sexual desires.

The film is the personal story of a protagonist of our times and traces Carlo Martini's actions and thoughts, as he has remained faithful to its vocation and ideals. Through dramatic events (terrorism, Tangentopoli, labor crisis, conflict, loneliness) Carlo Martini interpreted losses and concerns of the people, who saw a free man and a non dogmatic prince of the Gospel Church. Thanks to the authenticity of his testimony he has been a reference point for believers and non-believers, a prophet of hope, a forerunner of Pope Francis.

The feast of St. Peter in a country village. The priest admonishes his parishioners to confess and be free of avarice, but after mass he invites them all to make merry. Outside the church the elderly villagers are the first to start dancing, while street artists entertain passers by and the kids fly around on brightly lit carousels. There is als an old man inside at home, an invalid in a wheelchair, a young man wandering lost in thought, while a lonely woman watches the cuddling couples. Every year in towns, villages and urban neighborhoods there are traditional feasts to celebrate the patron saint. They reflect a need for faith, conviviality and entertainment, but for some they also make the sense of solitude and apprehension even stronger. Share:

Fragments of a collaboration between director Franco Piavoli (The Blue Planet, The First Breath of Wind) and students of the Laboratory Making Cinema founded by Marco Bellocchio.

Emigrants from Calabria arrive at Milan station with their luggage, to make their home there or set off for other destinations. A man falls asleep in a waiting room. The travellers look lost and tired. The language of the others is henceforth incomprehensible; they are already foreigners in their own country.