If one digs deeper than the Dunes and Spencers of the Venice International Film Festival lineup, a number of promising gems await. One that certainly has our eye is the latest work from Italian director Yuri Ancarani, whose previous film The Challenge was a formally vivid look inside the strange, opulent world of amateur falconry carried out by Qatari sheiks. He’s now returned with Atlantide, which is set on the edges of Venice as we follow the world of motorboat racing. Ahead of the festival, we’re pleased to debut the striking exclusive teaser. First up, see the synopsis below.
Daniele is a young man from Sant’Erasmo, an island on the edges of the Venice Lagoon. He lives on his wits, isolated even from his peer group who are busy exploring an existence of pleasure-seeking expressed in the cult of the barchino (motorboat). This obsession focuses on the building of ever more powerful engines to transform the little lagoon launches into dangerously fast racing boats. Daniele too dreams of a record-breaking barchino, one that will take him to the top of the leader board, but everything he does to further his dream and win respect from the others turns out to be tragically counterproductive. The decline that erodes the relationships, environment and habits of a rootless generation is observed from the timeless perspective of the Venetian landscape and its island outskirts: the point of no return is a foolish, vestigial tale of male initiation. Violent and destined to fail, it explodes dragging the ghost city along on a psychedelic shipwreck.
“Atlantide is a film that began without a screenplay,” the director said. “The story developed over four years of observation following these young people, their dialogues are taken from their very real lives. This working method gave me the opportunity to go beyond the limits of traditional film design: where first there is writing and then shooting. This way, the film was on hand to record a moment of great change for Venice and her lagoon, from an almost undetectable perspective, one attuned to the outlook of these adolescents. The intent to experience their lives up close, and in their boats, made all the rest possible: the film slowly created itself.”
Watch the exclusive teaser below.
Atlantide premieres at the Venice International Film Festival.