Rheingold, Lorenzo Pullega's debut feature, is a journey along the 212 km of Italy’s Rhein river from its source in Tuscany (Prunetta, a hamlet of San Marcello Piteglio) to its mouth near Ravenna where the river flows into the Adriatic sea just north of Casal Borsetti. The river offers a dreamlike journey, flowing through present and past, real and imagined figures, stories, notes, and impressions.
The task of documenting the river is commissioned by a quirky local club, and narrated by Neri Marcorè. It opens with a group of Japanese tourists dressed as Vikings intending to homage the great German composer Richard Wagner by travelling the Rhine, but have chosen the wrong one: the river of the same name in Italy.
The film begins in the Zodiac room of Palazzo Rosso di Bentivoglio (Bologna), where the documentary’s director interrupts a conductor rehearsing for a concert.
In Porretta Terme (Bologna), the camera focuses on the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Ponte, followed by a dreamlike scene with some characters in the spa.
The film moves to Vergato (Bologna), where a fountain near the station features a faun by sculptor Luigi Ontani dedicated to the Rhein.
The journey continues towards Bologna: the director stops on via Riva di Reno, named for the Reno canal that flows below, it was covered after the war. Beneath the surface, a city beneath the city is revealed.
On leaving Bologna, flatlands open ahead: women sing ancient songs (the choir of the mondine (rice gatherers) of Bentivoglio) about their work in the rice paddies; a solitary bell tower stands, all that remains of the small farming village of Durazzo (in the Molinella area), destroyed by riverine flooding.
The mouth of the Rhein in the Comacchio valleys and near the Spina lido holds a dramatic story, one of many the director encountered along the way.
Locations include: Camugnano, Sasso Marconi, Porretta Terme, Suviana, a hamlet of Castel di Casio, Comacchio and lido di Spina, Bologna, Castel dell'Alpi, a hamlet of San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Riccione, Casalecchio di Reno, and Carpi.
Rheingold, Lorenzo Pullega's debut feature, is a journey along the 212 km of Italy’s Rhein river from its source in Tuscany (Prunetta, a hamlet of San Marcello Piteglio) to its mouth near Ravenna where the river flows into the Adriatic sea just north of Casal Borsetti. The river offers a dreamlike journey, flowing through present and past, real and imagined figures, stories, notes, and impressions.
The task of documenting the river is commissioned by a quirky local club, and narrated by Neri Marcorè. It opens with a group of Japanese tourists dressed as Vikings intending to homage the great German composer Richard Wagner by travelling the Rhine, but have chosen the wrong one: the river of the same name in Italy.
The film begins in the Zodiac room of Palazzo Rosso di Bentivoglio (Bologna), where the documentary’s director interrupts a conductor rehearsing for a concert.
In Porretta Terme (Bologna), the camera focuses on the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Ponte, followed by a dreamlike scene with some characters in the spa.
The film moves to Vergato (Bologna), where a fountain near the station features a faun by sculptor Luigi Ontani dedicated to the Rhein.
The journey continues towards Bologna: the director stops on via Riva di Reno, named for the Reno canal that flows below, it was covered after the war. Beneath the surface, a city beneath the city is revealed.
On leaving Bologna, flatlands open ahead: women sing ancient songs (the choir of the mondine (rice gatherers) of Bentivoglio) about their work in the rice paddies; a solitary bell tower stands, all that remains of the small farming village of Durazzo (in the Molinella area), destroyed by riverine flooding.
The mouth of the Rhein in the Comacchio valleys and near the Spina lido holds a dramatic story, one of many the director encountered along the way.
Locations include: Camugnano, Sasso Marconi, Porretta Terme, Suviana, a hamlet of Castel di Casio, Comacchio and lido di Spina, Bologna, Castel dell'Alpi, a hamlet of San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Riccione, Casalecchio di Reno, and Carpi.
Mompracem, Rheingold, Rai Cinema
Rheingold is the story of all the stories taking place along a river, the Italian Rhein. The task of documenting stories along its banks, both past and present, is commissioned by a quirky local group who send a director from the source to the mouth of the river, gathering notes and impressions for a documentary. The short trip along the river of his childhood gradually becomes a larger-scale, dreamlike journey through the tales of humanity, one where getting lost offers the opportunity to find oneself again.
