Il Mondo Fuori
Concorso italiano – New talent opera prima
Brief Synopsis:
“There’s nothing out there,” Giovanni Gastel used to say every day from his photography studio. Those who have been there tell of a world in which time stood still and the desire to leave vanished. What is left of him today? Giovanni Gastel, who grew up in one of the most important aristocratic families in Milan, began his career as a photographer using a narrow, damp cellar as a studio, eventually winning over the most important fashion magazines. The world outside the walls of his home, however, is chaotic, noisy and frenetic for him. So he learns to create small happy islands around himself; like his studio where anyone is welcome and on entering he loses his perception of time. At the end of each day, someone tries to return to the outside world and always Giovanni replies ‘Where are you going? There is nothing out there!”. The documentary traces Gastel’s life through the testimonies of some of his dearest friends and relatives, including his son Marco Gastel, his sister Anna Gastel, Luisa Radice Fossati, the stylist Micaela Sessa, the photographer Silvia Paoli, the architects Pietro Lissoni and Stefano Boeri, the model Bianca Balti and the journalist Cristina Lucchini. Through interviews, videos and memories, the director offers a portrait of the photographer, putting together the pieces of what he left behind.
Director’s Notes:
The film was shot using two cameras with different intentions: a fixed camera, with a language typical of classic interviews, put in constant dialogue with a dirty and bustling handycam to get closer to the details and emotions conveyed by the people. The presence of archive material of different types is fundamental: the materials filmed by some of Gastel’s collaborators show his true essence by portraying him in his daily activities; the film materials are used to add universality to the story of a single subject that recalled in my memory a broader and more multifaceted imagery.