The last lighthouse

I want to tell you about my latest work, The Last Lighthouse. It is a double movie: the first one tells the still journey made by Paolo Rumiz on a desert island, with a few animals, the lighthouse, and two lighthouse keepers. A story that is contemplation of nature, reflection on the world. The second one gathers stories of lighthouses told by sailors, travelers, writers. In the first film the lighthouse is viewed from inside, and we are invited ourselves to become “sensors of surrounding universe,” in the latter, the lighthouse is told as a point of reference, that you leave when you go to sea with boats and you look for it to reach a landing. In all cases, it is a fascinating and metaphysical place.

For the first film, the images were taken directly by Paul Rumiz; I interpreted his stay on the island through a montage of sounds, music, listening to nature. Luciano Bosi, percussionist and ethnomusicologist organologist from Vaggelis Merkouris, musician of Greek origin, and Tommi Prodi, guitarist and arranger, gave important contribution to music.

The second film, Lighthouse stories, is more choral and collects various evidences, and then legends, black stories, fairy tales. Very often, the mysterious nature of lighthouses leads to create stories with macabre and dark implications. The lighthouse is in many cases seen as a bridge between life and death, because after all it is a place suspended, is neither on earth nor on water, a point of light in the sky that awaits sailors.

It is said that there are three types of lighthouse, hell, purgatory and paradise. To inexperienced guardians happen harder lives, lost in the sea, at the mercy of waves and storms. Who can withstand this harsh and lonely life, can gain heaven, or mainland. It is said that many of these guardians, however, can not achieve peace, because they go crazy because of the solitude, the sound of the lantern that seems to be the voice of the spirits that inhabit the lighthouse. This is why so many writers have told stories of love and death, of bridges to somewhere else. The writer Fabienne Kanor said that the first time she went to the lighthouse she heard the voice of the ghosts reaching her from the lantern. Tim Robinson heard a phone ringing through the windows of the tower and he understood that it was a call from beyond. Fabio Fiori, sailor and writer, says that every boat is an island. Monica Morini, author and actress, tells of the lighthouse, which is reflected in the waves of the sea.

To accomplish this I acted as always: a few items with me, a room, a microphone, my objects for the notes. And then I got carried away in a world that I had only seen from afar.

You will find The Last Lighthouse in all newsstands.