The Damned

synopsis

This existential wartime meditation on the American Civil War returns to 1862 and realistically delves into the plight of Union soldiers exploring the uncharted territories of the West. The longer they remain in the wilderness, the deeper they sink into feelings of confusion, disorientation and disconnection from reality, as if they are a foreign body in a time and age to which they do not belong, losing themselves in time itself. Minervini made his first feature film, which was awarded for Best Director in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, just like a documentary. The authenticity of the non-actors silently watching the winter landscape of present-day Montana and the snowflakes that drift down purifyingly on the weary, lost, and desolate souls of demoralized soldiers fighting an invisible enemy far from the front lines, make for an immersive, Terrence Malick-style dive into the USA’s past.

“It seemed natural to go back to the roots of a country that’s never ceased to be divided and never ceased to be at war with others, or with itself in a way.”

Quote source: Variety

biography

Roberto Minervini (1970) is an Italian filmmaker, photographer, music producer and university teacher living in the USA. He studied economics, media studies and film history. Interested in socially excluded groups, he is considered a leading exponent of narrative documentaries that combine dramatized narrative and observation. In 2020, Ji.hlava IDFF screened his films Low Tide (2012), Stop the Pounding Heart (2013) and The Other Side (2015).

more about film

director:	Roberto Minervini
cast:	Jeremiah Knupp, René Solomon, Cuyler Ballenger
producer:	Paolo Benzi, Denise Ping Lee, Roberto Minervini, Paolo Del Brocco
script:	Roberto Minervini
photography:	Carlos Alfonso Corral
editing:	Marie-Hélène Dozo
sound:	Bernat Fortiana Chico

contact

Raphaëlle Quinet / Les Films du Losange
r.quinet@filmsdulosange.fr