A Film by Yuri Ancarani
Falconry has a history that stretches back over 40 centuries. In the West it was a prevailing passion of the medieval aristocracy, but its prestige continues undiminished in contemporary Arab culture. Three years of observing this form of hunting in the field have made it possible to capture the spirit of a tradition that today allows its practitioners to keep a close rapport with the desert, despite their predominantly urban lifestyle. Our guide to how they cross that threshold is a falconer taking his birds to compete in a tournament in Qatar. In the glaring light of an empty landscape, following flight lines and lures, the film recounts a strange kind of “desert weekend”, in which technological and anthropological microcosms hang in the air, like the falcon, drifting on the irreversible currents of images.
"You will probably not see a better-looking nonfiction film during the fest." – 20 Must-See Movies to Catch at SXSW 2017 Rolling Stone
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Year: 2016
Production Countries: France, Italy
Runtime: 70 min.
Original Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English, French, Italian
CREW
Director: Yuri Ancarani
Cinematography: Yuri Ancarani, Luca Nervegna, Jonathan Ricquebourg
Sound: Mirco Mencacci
Editor: Yuri Ancarani
Music: Lorenzo Senni, Francesco Fantini
Production Designer: Stéphane Dougoud, Tanguy Thirion
Graphic Concept: Apart Collective
Producer: Christophe Gougeon (Atopic), Fabrizio Polpettini – Pierre Malachin (La Bête), Tommaso Bertani (Ring Film)
AWARDS AND SCREENINGS
* 69th Locarno Film Festival | Special Jury Prize Ciné+
* Manaki Brothers – International Cinematrographers' Film Festival
* Festival International du film de La Roche-sur-Yon
* Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival
* Free Zone Film Festival
* Sevilla Festival de Cine Europeo
* La Mostra de Cine Baix – Mostra de Cinema Internacional del Baix Llobregat
* IDFA – International Documentary FilmFestival Amsterdam
* Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata
* Torino Film Festival
* Lo Schermo dell'Arte Film Festival
* Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote
* FCZ – Festival de Cine de Zaragoza
* Dubai International Film Festival
* FICUNAM
* True/False Film Fest
* Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
* SXSW
* CPH:DOX
* New Directors New Films – MOMA Lyncoln Center
* San Francisco IFF – Film Society
* Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
* Jeonju IFF
* Hot Docs
* Indielisboa
* Dok.Fest Munchen
* Docaviv | Honorable Mention of the Jury
* Against Gravity Film Festival / Planete dOC
* Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival
* Transilvania International Film Festival
DIRECTOR
Yuri Ancarani
Born in Ravenna in 1972, Yuri Ancarani is an Italian visual artist. His work has been acknowledged both in the realms of cinema and of contemporary art. His last five films have been shown and awarded in more than a hundred international festivals – including Locarno, Venice and Toronto – and in the most important museums of the world, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museum in New York and he recently had a solo show at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
