Desiderio Sanzi

The first Road Movie feature film made by the Italian artist Sanzi together with the Cuban Balboa is inspired by friendship, the island and the motorbike. The two artists used, for the first time in Cuba, the form of the Road Movie--the cinematic genre the plot of which is developed during a trip.

A documentary about the artist Desiderio, directed by Andrea Rotini. With the partecipation of Alessandro Riva, Chiara Canali, Francesco Santaniello. Texts and translations by Gemma Jalenti

COOCUYO. To quote a Cuban comedian: “where does the Cocuyo hide its battery?”, just thanks to its peculiarity, Desiderio uses this cockroach as a perfect metaphor to describe his protagonists: with their green lights during the night and virtually impossible to find during the day. In his movie, he tries to find the battery of the Cocuyo living and looking for the “day-time” part, creating a path made by portraits and with an anti-narrative style. These scenes are far away from the Electronic music, or partly at least; all in a very natural context and without a defined screenplay. http://www.coocuyo.com/

A one-of-a-kind cinematographic experiment. A grotesque fairy tale, staged in the real lives of the characters. A completely self-produced movie, designed and directed by two visual artists, with the purpose of telling the tale of Artaserse, a retired worker, boxer, trainer and life-long painter. Everything is staged in an industrial, now decadent Terni; like a steel bay without the sea, here it's difficult to dream about becoming an artist. This movie is like a suburban western movie; the boxer and the painting dancing the communal square dance together, in life and death, the meeting-match between Artaserse and an allegorical and remorseless art world, and more generically, the battle of all the colorful characters, appearing throughout.

I Like to Dream: The True Story of Felipe Cardeña (Short film), shot by the artist Desiderio, shows us Felipe, as a mime walking through the streets of Havana, through the cross-over testimonies of many people who knew or heard of him: street mimes like him, but also bartenders, street vendors, street people, as well as the famous Cuban writer Yoss, author of an essay on the artist. A hybrid film, halfway between the journalistic documentary and the dreamlike and symbolic reconstruction of the work of Cardeña, the film reconstructs Felipe’s passage through the streets of Havana, through witnesses, but also through Felipe’s performances (such as the large floral poster, with Che’s face, still hanging in a street in Old Havana), the suggestions of his works, his dreamlike atmospheres and colors.

1346. The Black Death has arrived in Europe. Andruccio is fleeing his village Coccorone (Italy) in search of salvation. Among the woods and paths he meets a rather singular character who will accompany him to Triora, the 'village of witches', to find the cure. A metaphysical journey that will lead the protagonist to live a unique experience between dream and reality where death will become his travelling companion.