email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

LOCARNO 2017 Filmmakers of the Present

The Mount of Ants takes on the challenge of filming the invisible

by 

- LOCARNO 2017: The first film by Italy's Riccardo Palladino takes advantage of the lives of ants as an opportunity to talk about (collective) immortality and the circle of life

The Mount of Ants takes on the challenge of filming the invisible

Italian director Riccardo Palladino's first feature-length film, The Mount of Ants [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, world premiered as part of the Filmmakers of the Present competition at the 70th Locarno Festival. Despite the title of the film perhaps leading you to think of a nature documentary investigating the micro-reality of a group of ants, in reality the ants are used as a means of pondering something more universal: immortality and the circle of life.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Beginning with the legend that attracts a large number of believers to the so-called Mount of Ants once a year on the 8 September, Riccardo Palladino tells a story with images punctuated with the sound of voices reciting texts written by famous artists, such as Nobel prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck and entomologist Carlo Emery, both of whom are interested in small insects and how they live together.

Once a year, on the 8 September, a swarm of winged ants arrives, leaving a myriad of sacrificed bodies at the foot of the mountain after mating in aid of the continuation of the species; said ritual coincides with the Vergine del Monte delle Formiche” festival or “Santa Maria Formicarum”.

Starting with this ancient tradition, which teleports us into a reality that is invisible to most, Riccardo Palladino contemplates the nature of these little winged creatures and how they are perhaps a metaphor for our society and the spaces we inhabit: the idea that the group is our only redemption and collective immortality is our salvation. The circle of life condensed into the batting of sacrificial wings year upon year. 

As light as a feather but as profound as the Mount of Ants mystery, Riccardo Palladino's first film challenges all logic in order to capture a phenomenon which escapes all understanding: the mystery of a place, the sacrifice of an animal so apparently small and insignificant as an ant. In one word: the significance of life.

The wonderful soundtrack accompanies each shot without overpowering it, extrapolating a beautiful truth from each image. The Mount of Ants exalts both the power and wisdom of nature, which has so much more to tell us despite the noise of the civilisation that surrounds it. 

With both experimentation and tradition, Riccardo Palladino gifts us with a wonderfully beautiful and celestial first feature-length film that is full of wisdom.

The Mount of Ants was produced by CamerAmano and co-produced by Minollo Film.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Italian)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy