Luigi Lineri’s world.
Thousands of stones collected over sixty years along the Adige river to create an extraordinary artistic installation.
A journey into the depths of human nature.
Original soundtrack by Nicolás Jaar.
Documentary, 62′ – 2023
Directed by Giuseppe Petruzzellis
Produced by Aplysia, EiE Film
In collaboration with Vessel, Lisa Fierro
With the support of Lombardia Film Commission, MFN – Milano Film Network
With the patronage of Parco Regionale Naturale della Lessinia, Comune di Zevio, Comune di Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo
Original soundtrack by Nicolás Jaar
Italian Distribution Aplysia — Laura Bergamini, Nefeli Polymerou
International Sales Impronta Films
Official website: www.laricercafilm.com
For sixty years an elderly artist has been working on a gigantic collection of stones: “La Ricerca”. Walking inch by inch along the bed of the Adige river and the mountains of Lessinia (Veneto region, Italy), Luigi Lineri has meticulously gathered and catalogued countless pebbles shaped like human and animal forms, reminiscent of enigmatic prehistoric sculptures. The stones become a lens through which to peer into the depths of human nature, between primordial memories and glimpses of what is to come.
Evoking mythological and primitive suggestions, Lineri’s installation pays homage to the labours of the men and women who lived through the infancy of our species, allowing us to become what we are. A collective existential inquiry, a journey back in time through symbols, art, ecology and technological progress.
Combining the languages of documentary and experimental cinema, La Ricerca is a visionary narrative that offers an unprecedented perspective on the human journey and a manifesto of hope for the future. Giuseppe Petruzzellis’s debut feature is enriched by an original soundtrack by world-renowned composer Nicolás Jaar.
Awards
- Special Youth Jury Award – Visions du Réel 2023
- Grand Prix – Le FIFA 2024
- Special Mention Hera “New Talents” – BIOGRAFILM 2023
- Best Editing – Documentaria 2023
- Andrea Pazienza Award – Premio Libero Bizzarri 2023
Festivals & Reviews
La Ricerca has screened at major international documentary film festivals, receiving critical and jury recognition across Europe, the Americas, and beyond.
“At once modest and surprisingly vast, this film unfolds from the portrait of a man with a particular passion. Little by little, the anecdotal narrative subtly gives way to a profound and singular perspective on the world, on the history of humanity, and on the very notion of art.”
— Jury statement, Grand Prix — FIFA, Montréal (Canada)
“We wanted to award a film that carried us along, engaged us and surprised us. We were moved by the passion of the protagonist, whom the director observed with wisdom and tenderness, pushing us to educate our vision of the world. Things we thought simple became extraordinary. It takes time to observe the world. A project that will stay with us and that we want to share with our generation.”
— Jury statement, Special Youth Jury Prize — Visions du Réel, Nyon (Switzerland)
“The story of an atypically poetic character leads us to an elevated and universal reflection on our past, present and future, through a refined cinematic language and a wisely creative use of archival material.”
— Jury statement, Hera Special Mention “New Talents” — Biografilm Festival, Bologna
“Giuseppe Petruzzellis’s film is a lunar film. A visionary journey in which the director succeeds in bringing inanimate objects to life through the voice of Luigi Lineri, who for sixty years has pursued a deeply personal research. The framing, the cinematography, the musical commentary and the editing are instruments wielded with mastery and talent by the filmmaker, who has the courage to break narrative patterns that are all too often overused, and to liberate a personal poetics of great visual and storytelling impact.”
— Jury statement, Andrea Pazienza Award — Premio Libero Bizzarri
«A research endeavour, an artistic undertaking and even a form of time travel — this beautiful quest defies rigid categorisation.»
— The Guardian (UK)
“Listening and imagination: these are the two precious qualities that Giuseppe Petruzzellis knows how to bring back to the surface in his portrait of Luigi Lineri. Simplicity and enchantment permeate the style of a film that knows how to pause at the right moments, giving the viewer space to breathe and reflect.”
— Giuseppe Di Salvatore — Filmexplorer (CH)
- Premiere mondiale — Visions du Réel, Nyon (CH) — 2023 — Premio Speciale Giuria Giovani
- Premiere italiana — Biografilm Festival, Bologna — 2023 — Menzione Speciale Hera “Nuovi Talenti”
- Euganea Film Festival, Monselice (PD) — 2023
- Cervino Cinemountain, Cervinia (AO) — 2023
- Film Festival della Lessinia, Bosco Chiesanuova (VR) — 2023 — Evento speciale
- Documentaria, Noto (SR) — 2023 — Premio Miglior Montaggio
- Premio Libero Bizzarri, San Benedetto del Tronto (AP) — 2023 — Premio Andrea Pazienza
- Premiere francese — PriMED, Marsiglia (FR) — 2023
- Festival di Cinepoesia Versi di Luce, Modica (RG) — 2023
- Rencontres du film d’art, Saint-Gaudens (FR) — 2024
- Premiere nordamericana — Le FIFA, Montréal (CA) — 2024 — Grand Prix
- Premiere sudamericana — ARCA International Festival of Films on Arts, Manantiales (UY) — 2025
- Ri-ciak, Museo di Storia Naturale, Verona
- FESTIVITA — LUX Scène nationale, Valence (FR)
- Sotterranee Botteghe di Poesia, Verona
- Piase Festival, Zevio (VR)
- Il Grande Sentiero, Gromo (BG)
- Veronetta Contemporanea, Verona
- Apriti Cinema, Cortile degli Uffizi, Firenze
- Cinema in Cantina, Treviso
Director’s Notes
I first encountered Luigi Lineri and his work in early 2015. A meeting that sparked an unprecedented sense of wonder and a long series of questions. A spark from which the development of this film was born. Luigi’s monumental work is a formidable instrument for exploring universal themes. In his installation he has succeeded in materialising a vast field of anthropological, philosophical and even political subjects. Many of these are extremely current and urgent, such as our conflicted relationship with the ecosystem.
These are the foundations on which the formal elements of the film rest. Recontextualised archival materials and experimental audiovisual sequences work in an allusive and evocative manner, adding layers of emotional and conceptual exploration to the film’s themes. It is a continuous and open dialogue with Luigi and with the audience. La Ricerca moves towards the ideal of collective empowerment: the reworking of lost memories in order to build a better future.
The question of preservation — of our species, but not only — is also relevant with regard to the survival of the extraordinary artistic installation created by Luigi Lineri. Given its particular nature, there is a risk that it may disappear along with its elderly creator. This film bears witness to Luigi’s life mission: an artistic vocation understood as a way of serving the universal human community.
These profound motivations have sustained the long development process of this project, which spanned over seven years. During this time, many professionals embraced this endeavour — in many cases as a passion project — as did world-renowned musician Nicolás Jaar, who composed the film’s original soundtrack.
— Giuseppe Petruzzellis
Markets & Workshops
- In Progress | Milano Film Network – Development workshop (2016)
- BioToB | Biografilm Festival – Market (2016)
- IDS – Italian Doc Screenings | Doc/it – Training and pitch (2016)
- Milano Industry Days | Milano Film Network – Market – Project Awarded with a Development Grant (2016)
- Review | Cortona on the move – Development workshop (2019)
- L’Atelier | Milano Film Network – Project Awarded with a Post-production Grant (2021)
Protagonist: Luigi Lineri
Born in 1937 in Albaro di Ronco all’Adige (Verona). The third of twelve siblings, his father was a sacristan. He spends his childhood in a boarding school in the mountains of Trentino-Alto Adige. On returning home, he forms a particularly close bond with his grandmother, illiterate but the custodian of rural traditions and values.
During the 1960s he devoted himself to dialect poetry, painting and sculpture. His poems won several nationally recognised awards. His vases, paintings and ceramics also met with success, and some of his works are held in the Collection de l’Art Brut Museum (Lausanne, Switzerland).
In 1964 he begins collecting stones. In 1966 he marries Tosca Guglielmi, and in the 1970s his daughters Genziana and Stella are born. After working in the family shoe shop and later as a nurse at the Hospital of Zevio (Verona), from 1985 he devotes himself exclusively to La Ricerca — his collection of stones.
His monumental installation is an endless work in progress: every day bringing new acquisitions and repositioning.
Only in recent years has La Ricerca begun to attract critical attention. In 2010 the first exhibition: Forme solitarie per un’armonia collettiva (Palazzo dei Mutilati, Verona). In 2012 he participates in the group show Banditi dell’Arte (Halle Saint Pierre, Paris) and in 2014 in L’autre de l’Art (Lille Metropole Musée, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France). In 2016 several Italian and international publications cover his work (La Repubblica, Reuters, Der Spiegel, Art Magazine, Artribune), and he appears as a guest on the well-known television programme Unomattina (RAI 1).
Credits
Directed by Giuseppe Petruzzellis
With Luigi Lineri
Original soundtrack Nicolás Jaar
Cinematography Michele Brandstetter de Bellesini, Giuseppe Petruzzellis
Sound Davide Saggioro
Editing supervisors Carlotta Cristiani, Valentina Andreoli
Scientific consultant Matteo Meschiari
Production assistant Lucia Pornaro
Press office Davide Ficarola
Distribution
Distributed by Aplysia, in 2024 La Ricerca was released in Italian cinemas with a tour touching several major Italian cities (Milan, Bologna, Turin, Florence, Verona, Ferrara, Palermo, and others), often with the director present for post-screening discussions.
- Scuola Galileiana — Università degli Studi di Padova
- PHILM, Laboratorio di Cinema e Filosofia — Università degli Studi di Verona
- Blow-Up Academy, Accademia di Cinema e Arti Visive, Ferrara
Streaming
Vimeo On Demand (IT)
Truestory Documentary (international)
GuideDoc (international)
