Il buco

Michelangelo Frammartino / IT, FR, DE, 2021 / 93 min.

In an interview, director Michelangelo Frammartino admitted to suffering from vertigo. But this didn’t stop him making a film in which he and a group of potholers descend into an unfathomably deep chasm in the earth’s crust. Taking us along with him. Film as an immersive experience.

poster Il Buco (Michelangelo Frammartino, IT 2021)

Italy, in the early sixties. As prosperity increases in the cities in the north, in rural areas and the south time has largely stood still. The two worlds come into abrasive contact when a group of potholers in Calabria explore a four-hundred-metre-deep hole. While the group, played by real potholers, descend into the vertical cavern ledge by ledge, a farmer – who has hardly seen the world change at all during his lifetime – looks stoically on.

Pre-show

Before the main film, you will see the short film (2') Descent by Johan Rijpma from 2014. In this abstract film, a cylindrical cup falls and breaks into pieces. Each frame of this recording is then manually translated into a ceramic layer made from the remains of the broken cup.