A film by Leonardo Palmerini | Angiò

Angiò is a work that breathes life into the spirit of Lorenzo Viani, the artist. It is a film by director Leonardo Palmerini, who hails from Viareggio. It is an experimental film that uses live shots processed through digital technology to echo the graphic work of Viani, painter, sculptor printmaker whose etchings exhibit a rare expressive power; it tells the story of Angelo Bertuccelli, who was born in Via Pinciana in Viareggio in 1850.

Small of stature with a strong and proud character trapped in a deformed body. Sailor, like the majority of the inhabitants of the Viareggio of those days, who escaped the gail-winds aboard the “Dedalo” and swore never to return to the sea.

The “sailor of the Ocean” spends his days in increasing isolation far from the pettiness of people who laugh at his grotesque appearance. In a whirlwind of desperation and rebellion the dwarf with the heart of a giant will end his days overcome by the tides of madness, a man drowned in a deep sea “a man of water” as prescribed by a hostile destiny.

Based on the novel “Angiò uomo d’acqua” by Lorenzo Viani.

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THE PROJECT

The Angiò project is a film adaptation of the literary work of Lorenzo Viani “Angiò uomo d’acqua”, already reduced to a drama version for Rai – main italian tv channel – in 1965.

The feature film directed by Leonardo Palmerini is performed with digital techniques, reconstructing and transforming the actions of the actors in a sort of “cartoon” animation, trying to reconstruct the graphics of Viani engraver and draftsman, to enhance and merge both the written work and the graphic work of the Versilian painter.

An operation to increase the widespread culture in the Versilia – the land of the writer – to promote and enhance the anthropological specifications of the people of this area.

THE TECHNIQUE

The technique used is called rotoscoping, used to create a “cartoon” type graphic effect in which the scenes and characters acquire a new narrative dimension.

Shooting takes place with actors moving and acting in front of a “blue screen”.

Once the “shot” has been made, the scenes are mounted on software and then processed with special filters.

This technique allows the film to approach the design of the Viani work;

most of the shots are based on drawings and woodcuts taken from the artist’s work.

THE SOUND

The film is mainly commented on by an off-screen voice expressed in the Viareggio dialect used by Viani for the novel. The soundtrack was specially composed by the musical group Le Onde Martenot.