Qhis evening, at 21.15 on first TV on Rai 5will be broadcast Atlantisa splendid documentary by the artist and video maker from Romagna Yuri Ancarani which he tells in documentary form a disoriented generation in the solitude of the Venice Lagoon.
Atlantis: the documentary on Rai 3
Daniele (Daniele Barison) is a boy who lives in Sant’Erasmo, a small island in the Venetian lagoon and makes ends meet with small jobs. Sometimes marginalized compared to his peers, however, the boy shares a common passion with his friends: that of the “barchino”. Namely the create ever more powerful engines for small boats that sail in the waters of the lagoon, transforming them into dangerous racing cars. Daniele would also like a record boat, but the breaking point of this dangerous initiation rite comes with an unexpected outburst of anger. Which will explode in Piazza San Marco with dramatic consequences for him and all his friends.
A psychedelic trip to Venice
Presented in 2021 at the Venice Film Festival in the Horizons section, Atlantis was immediately accepted as a breath of fresh air in the contemporary Italian scene. Thanks to a mind-blowing visual architecture, signature seductive sounds Sick Luke and an absolutely new documentary form. An audiovisual splendor that Yuri Ancarani had already experienced in the previous feature film The Challenge of 2016, set in Qatar and with wealthy sheikhs with a passion for falconry. From the desert to the lagoon, Atlantis it’s a real feast for the eyes right from the opening creditswhere we see a group of young people swimming and diving from a little frequented vaporetto stop on the sleepy island of Sant’Erasmo.
A scene from “Atlantis” (Courtesy I Wonder Pictures)
By stalking the nervous body of his protagonist with his camera, Yancarani chooses a hybrid form halfway between an observation documentary and the most innovative forms of contemporary art. Not caring about the classic narration and dividing the film into different temporal blocks, always to the sound of music, which also make one think of the world of video clips. Thus leaving the viewer the opportunity to being overwhelmed by a constant flow that engulfs all the senses.
A reflection on the world of young people
Using only (very good) non-professional actorsAncarani manages to reinvigorate the structure of the documentary without ever forgetting its young protagonists and the bitter reality that surrounds a generation perhaps in disarray. Atlantis in fact it is not only a pure visual-musical joy but also a film that he wants to photograph lost kids with no points of reference. But without ever having the presumption of launching moral messages, or judge. Thus balancing an extremely violent story in a city that slowly sinks and acts only as an observer. Like Atlantis, the mythological city lost in the depths of the sea, even Venice is slowly sinking. And perhaps, symbolically, many other components of society they sink with it.
Director Yuri Ancarani
Born in Ravenna in 1972, the director moved to Milan at the age of 18 and after his studies he immediately began to make some art videos which are toured in the main Italian galleries. In 2010, Ancarani begins to also experimenting with the narrative forms of cinema, directing some successful short films presented in important events. Like the Venice Film Festival and the Rome Film Fest.
Author with a rigorous, modern style and with an anthropological gaze always aimed at changes in societythe director and videomaker, thanks to Atlantis, also received a nomination for the David di Donatello. And, a few days ago, it ended at the PAC in Milan the first monographic exhibition dedicated to his visionary and poetic research by title Leave the dreams alone. A quote taken from a scene from Atlantis that the protagonist Daniele says to his young girlfriend Maila.
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