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IDFA2024 Bestiaries Herbaria Lapidaries 1

Bestiaries, Herbaria, Lapidaries

Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti / CIV, CH, 2024 / 207 min.

In three acts, each with its own character, this ambitious film examines the world of animals, plants and stones, and questions the place of humans on our planet. It's at times didactic, at times observational, at times theoretical and at times poetic.

poster IDFA 2024

This both encyclopedic and essayistic film successively explores the worlds of animals, plants and minerals in three acts. In the first part, built around archive footage, scholars analyze the recording and classification of animals and their behavior, as well as the care of animals and experimenting on them, as different forms of appropriation—a method to determine a hierarchy, with human beings at the top.

In the following acts, the film tilts and shifts this anthropocentric worldview. The second, poetically observational part, shot in the botanical gardens of Padua in Italy, argues that plants surpass and overshadow humans in almost every respect. The third act, which again has its own tone and documentary approach, reflects on the role that stones play in war and destruction, as well as in commemoration.

This ambitious film does not consider animals, plants and minerals as elements from a world “around us”. Within the formalistic structure, a web of cross-connections is created in which humans are not the omniscient center.

This is part of

Details

Director

Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti

Production year

2024

Country

CIV, CH

Length

207 min.

Language

English, Italian, German

Subtitles

ENG

Format

DCP

Part of

IDFA 2024

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is once again bringing an exciting selection of the world's best documentaries to Eye this year, from November 14 until 24.

Learn more
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IDFA2024 Bestiaries Herbaria Lapidaries 2
IDFA2024 Bestiaries Herbaria Lapidaries 3
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