Giuseppe Petruzzellis
Italy, United States | 2023 | 62 min
World premiere
Language : Italian
Subtitles : English, French
Luigi Lineri has accumulated thousands of rocks. Over the years, he has obsessively gathered, collected, admired, observed, sorted and loved these sharpened flints and evocatively shaped stones. His ‘quest’ – which gives Giuseppe Petruzzellis' film its title – seeks to link the origins of technology and art, as part of a deeply personal cosmogony.
Q&A in the presence of Nicolas Jaar, composer of the film's soundtrack
Luigi Lineri has accumulated thousands of rocks over the last 55 years. He obsessively collects, admires, observes and sorts the pebbles that make up his “Ricerca” (search) - from primitive flint tools to symbolic sculptures that illustrate the turning points in humanity’s evolution, as well as simple pebbles with evocative shapes and moving curves and colours. The Italian artist is attempting to organise the chaos of the world. From the origins of technology to the birth of art, he investigates the inner world that defines our species, our link to the Earth and to space. Giuseppe Petruzzellis uses image and sound to compose a vision of this very personal cosmogony. Filming Lineri during his “harvests”, the director takes a universal approach, combining extracts from a would-be global archive with the enchanting music of Nicolás Jaar to accompany the artist’s quest. Only a stone’s throw separates an Italian riverbed from man’s first steps on the moon.
Madeline Robert