In the midst of a dazzling and prolific career at the forefront of modern jazz innovation, Miles Davis virtually disappears from public view for a period of five years in the late 1970s. Alone and holed up in his home, he is beset by chronic pain from a deteriorating hip, his musical voice stifled and numbed by drugs and pain medications, his mind haunted by unsettling ghosts from the past. “MILES AHEAD is not just about the music. It’s about what we all face at one time or another in our lives; questions about who we really are, what we have to say and how will we say it. How will we ultimately be defined and who gets to say so?”
ENDLESS POETRY by Alejandro Jodorowsky | OTRFF5 > Out of Competition
Through Alejandro Jodorowsky’s autobiographical lens, Endless Poetry narrates the years of the Chilean artist’s youth during which he liberated himself from all of his former limitations, from his family, and was introduced into the foremost bohemian artistic circle of 1940s Chile where he met Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra… at the time promising young but unknown artists who would later become the titans of twentieth-century Hispanic literature. He grew inspired by the beauty of existence alongside these beings, exploring life together, authentically and freely. A tribute to Chile’s artistic heritage, Endless Poetry is also an ode to the quest for beauty and inner truth, as a universal force capable of changing one’s life forever, written by a man who has dedicated his life and career to creating spiritual and artistic awareness across the globe.
SAGRE BALERE | OTRFF5 In Competition
Omar was born in the suburbs of Milan and was destined to be a coachbuilder, but, instead, he became a successful ballroom singer. He got inspired by listening to ballroom singers from Studio Zeta, the biggest dance club in Italy at that time and, this way, he later started his own career. After a few years he knows Adele, his great love and manager, who transforms him into a true icon. The film tells the story of Omar and shows him, in his 20th year of career with his band, as we travelled together with him in their long tour around many Northern regions of Italy.
TRANSITORY LIVES | OTRFF5 In Competition > Italian Premiere
The personal and physical journey of three Syrian refugees from the shores of Lesvos to the heart of Europe (Bruxelles, Belgium) and their process of integration in the new world.
THE SONGS | OTRFF5 In Competition > City Premiere
Sperone district, one of Palermo’s biggest squares. Like every summer, there are square concerts, karaoke, neighbourhood festivals featuring neo-melodic singers. Vincenzo, a six-year-old boy, climbs the stage imitating the motions of his idol Mimmo Fini. The film tells the desire for redemption of an entire family is substantiated in the voice of a clumsy child and his only song: “I fell in love”.
FLAT TYRE | OTRFF5 In Competition > City Premiere
Imagine a band from Alabama thrown into a music tour in southern Italy, playing “tarantella” and singing in the local dialect. Now, try to completely overthrow the elements of the history, and you will have “Flat Tyre,” the incredible musical journey through the USA of a group of young neapolitan musicians “La terza classe”, in search of the deep roots of American popular music. Winking at Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece, from Mali to Mississippi, the film mixes the human adventure on the road of the protagonists, street performances to cover the expenses of the tour and their encounters with the great sacred monsters of the bluegrass scene, dixieland and blues. Q&A with La terza classe.
CAFARD | OTRFF5 In competition > Italian Premiere
1914. While Jean Mordant is in the United States and is winning the world title of free struggle, his daughter Mimi, who stayed home in Belgium, is raped by German soldiers. Jean swears to avenge her, and enrolls in the famous ACM, the first armored division of history, embarking on an odyssey to return to her.
TRANSUMANZA TOUR | OTRFF5 Fuori Concorso
A folk trio, violin/guitar/voice, a sheep drawn on the cover of a music album, a bit of money and a whole country to cross to go home, from Maratea to Genoa. Six innovative, open and hospitable farms. Six stages of a musical-rural tour through Italy, its campaigns and its people. Back to the Land!
OTTOBRE live impro soundtrack | OTRFF5 Evento d’apertura > Anteprima Assoluta
The opening night 2017 is the opportunity to celebrate together three important occurrences. First of all the 20 years of Detour, independent quality cinema outpost, uncompromising, since 1997 at Rione Monti, in the heart of Rome. Fifth year, for On The Road Film Festival, an overview of the best independent international cinema on trips and borders. Finally, widening the horizons, exactly one hundred years ago, the October Revolution culminated in the Winter Palace in Russia. Ten years later, Sergei Eisenstein’s epic and surreal film recreated the revolt of 1917, with deflating freedom and dissipation of forms and contents and kinematic anarchy. The joyfully anarchist celebration of the three anniversaries is entrusted to the live soundtrack by three great international musicians, improvisation masters: Mike Cooper, Alìpio Carvalho and Roberto Bellatalla.
ENDLESS POETRY by Alejandro Jodorowsky
Through Alejandro Jodorowsky’s autobiographical lens, Endless Poetry narrates the years of the Chilean artist’s youth during which he liberated himself from all of his former limitations, from his family, and was introduced into the foremost bohemian artistic circle of 1940s Chile where he met Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra… at the time promising young but unknown artists who would later become the titans of twentieth-century Hispanic literature. He grew inspired by the beauty of existence alongside these beings, exploring life together, authentically and freely. A tribute to Chile’s artistic heritage, Endless Poetry is also an ode to the quest for beauty and inner truth, as a universal force capable of changing one’s life forever, written by a man who has dedicated his life and career to creating spiritual and artistic awareness across the globe.