The Italian Banker

In a thermal bath town that withstands mass tourism, a builder and his surveyor partner start up an ambitious project: converting twenty abandoned hotels into luxury residences for wealthy retired people. The lack of financial support from the banks and investors triggers a domino effect in their destiny that forever subverts reality.

Two young girls, a hot, stifling summer, the desire to run away from a small provincial town. Luisa is full of life, uninhibited, unconventional. Renata is dark, angry and in need of love. The lives of two young women is a tale of blackmail, of a love betrayed, of violence: Luisa uses her Albanian boyfriend, Bilal; Renata uses Luisa’s body to orchestrate her revenge. Both want to leave the small community where they have grown up among village festivals and independence gatherings, helpless families and new generations of migrants targeted by those who feel increasingly threatened. Luisa, Renata and Bilal will risk loosing themselves, loosing a precious part of themselves, of those they love, ultimately loosing their own lives.

For Filmmaker Film Festival (2023), Fulvio Baglivi and Cristina Piccino asked some filmmakers (R. Beckermann, J. Bressane, D’Anolfi/Parenti, T. De Bernardi, L. Di Costanzo, A. Fasulo, F. Ferraro, M. Frammartino, S. George, ghezzi/Gagliardo, C. Hintermann, G. Maderna, A. Momo, A. Rossetto, M. Santini, C. Simon, S. Savona) to give us their own "lost road," that is, a sequence, scene or piece of editing that did not later find its way into the final version of one of their works. Each fragment has its own accomplished presence, often has a different title from the film it was made for, which is not necessary to have seen in order to find meaning; on the contrary, those who set out thinking they know the world they are walking through will find themselves displaced.

Since the dawn of time, fire has fascinated the spirit of man. And it is with pyrotechnic art and fireworks that man's ancient relationship with fire is celebrated. The firework has a cathartic function, it removes the specter of war through the ritualized use of its most striking components: the din, the danger, the distant lights in the night. It also appears that pyrotechnics are closely linked to exorcism from the danger of volcanic eruptions: the firework free from the presence of evil spirits, which popular belief evokes in volcanic areas. Il Fuoco di Napoli traces the story of a man, Giuseppe Scudo, and his passion, the fireworks. His art and his life are one for him. This Neapolitan blaster challenges danger with clarity and intelligence. His work is a delicate alchemy of ancient knowledge, imagination and courage.