| Director: | Giulio Base |
|---|---|
| Production: | Agnus Dei Production, Rai Cinema, Solaria Film, G.B. Productions, AlberTeam Group |
| Running Time: | 82’ |
| Language: | Italian |
| Country: | Italy |
| Main Cast: | Giulio Base, Paolo Fosso |
| Screenplay: | Giulio Base |
| Cinematographer: | Giuseppe Riccobene |
| Editor: | Gabriele Burchiellaro |
| Production Designer: | Valter Caprara |
| Costume Designer: | Cristiana Alagna |
| Music: | Pietro Freddi |
| Sound: | Stefano Civitenga |
| Notes: | From the novel “O Banqueiro Anarquista” by Fernando Pessoa |
Cinema
Il banchiere anarchico
Sconfini
Synopsis
At the end of a dinner in his spartan and closely guarded home, an extremely powerful banker celebrates his birthday in a frugal manner. The occasion provides an opportunity for his only guest (and perhaps only friend) to satisfy his curiosity regarding the man’s mysterious but irresistible rise to enormous wealth. Of humble origin, the banker claims that his financial empire stems from a desire for an advanced social struggle, one to be conducted in solitude but not for this reason any less radical than the ideology of those who profess themselves to be out-and-out anarchists. The banker argues that the act of isolating oneself is the only way to lead a truly revolutionary life, the only possibility for a political militancy superior to that of his old comrades in rebellion, whom he dismisses today as “the whores of the great libertarian doctrine.” The man stuns his guest with a cultured and sophisticated exposition infused with incendiary ideas of opposition to the injustices of the bourgeoisie and fierce denunciations of the excessive power of the deadly poison that undermines our freedom from within: money. Money that the banker has squirrelled away without scruples and without rules. In order to be free, he claims. Without shame.
Director’s Statement
It is only after a 35-year-long career that I have been able to tackle this film as if it were a “first work.” I’ve always wanted to make it and at last I’ve found the courage. I’ve long dreamed of the bare and Kantian staging of this withering pamphlet with close-ups on the logic—where possible—and not the actors. The cinema still offers the possibility of shots cleaned of dross. As an untiring film buff I love authors like this, their works. From this (for me new) perspective of rigor I desired to get across the commitment of the oxymoronic title. That of the history of all societies: the history of class struggle. The bourgeoisie seems to have disappeared from our screens. I’ve tried to look power in the face. Without satire. Without seeing things in terms of black and white. Pessoa has taught us that iconoclasm can be hidden behind sophisticated manners. I have ventured to turn this into cinema.
Producers/Distributors
PRODUCTION 1: AGNUS DEI PRODUCTION
Viale delle Milizie, 20
00192, Rome – Italy
Tel. +39 3391111782
tizianaroccacomunicazione@gmail.com
PRODUCTION 2: RAI Cinema S.p.A.
Piazza Adriana, 12
00193, Rome – Italy
Tel. +39 0633179601
PRODUCTION 3: SOLARIA FILM
Via Casal del Marmo, 179
00135, Rome – Italy
Tel. +39 335 7580884
emanuele.nespeca@gmail.com
PRODUCTION 4: G.B. PRODUCTIONS
Via San Liberio, 20
00165, Rome – Italy
Tel. +39 3477996012
giuliobase@me.com
OTHER COPRODUCTIONS: Alberteam Group
ITALIAN SALES: SUN FILM GROUP S.P.A
Antonio Carloni
Tel. +39 3358337171
a.carloni@sunfilmgroup.it
Rossella Nionelli
Tel. +39 331 9838633
r.nionelli@sunfilmgroup.it
PRESS OFFICE: Cristina Scognamillo
Via Carlo Pascal, 38
00167, Rome – Italy
cristinascognamillo@hotmail.com
+39 335294961
