All three of us are Italian and come from small towns in rural territory. Here, the moods are incandescent and manners improper; language can be crude and fashion is always the latest fashion, thus already out of fashion. That’s not a condition of isolation, on the contrary; we live exactly in the navel of the nation, where all the political and social conflicts that mark this historical moment come to life. Our work deeply reflects this land, its people, its folklore.
It needs to be said that the whole world is in itself a village. Communities, bigger or smaller, more or less isolated, can be found all over and, no matter where they are located, living conditions and traditions make them alike and somehow close. See the case of ‘snake handlers’ – still found among Pentecostals, in the Appalachian Mountains (United States) – and the ‘serpari’ (snake handlers/hunters) of a small mountain community in the Abruzzo region, in Italy, which we had the opportunity to film for one episode of our latest project, Zeus Machine. This is only one of several instances we could mention.
Basically, we like filming what is common to as many people as possible. Sometimes, we do it by picturing events or collective situations, some others, by taking one as an example for all. We go among men as anthropologists; we ask permission to participate in their feasts, make a story, a portrait, and take them as an example to other men.