Documentary / Art

Altamente (Highly)

In Novoli, a small village in Salento, Sant'Antonio Abate is celebrated from 11th to 18th January. A pile of vine shoots (La Fòcara) is erected in the name of the Saint, whose height of 25 meters in the 2014 edition broke all previous records. On January 16th, to complete the liturgical and religious rites, the Fòcara is set on fire, starting a series of concerts, cultural and food and wine meetings. From a traditional and religious festival, Focàra becomes an international event. Novoli becomes the center of contradictions and misunderstandings, a community at the service of a single event experienced however in a completely autonomous and individual way. A sort of ideal triangle is formed whose vertices are made up on one side of the Church which brings everything to faith and the celebration of the rite, on the other the party committee which is responsible for hiring the workers and conducting the work for the construction of the enormous bonfire, and on the other the organizers of the Focàra festival, a free musical event without equal in Europe in the winter period. Against this background, the voices of Hidetoshi Nagasawa (called to design and design the shape of Focara 2014) and Emir Kusturica (called to intervene in general on his own vision of popular culture and its transformation) give an external and "vertical" point of view of the party and of the healthy madness that animates people from its preparation to its conclusion, until only ashes remain when the ardors die down.

Production company

Passo Uno Produzioni

Director

GIANNI DE BLASI