DAL PIANETA DEGLI UMANI

Sceneggiatura, fotografia / Screenplay, Photography: Giovanni Cioni. Montaggio / Editing: Philippe Boucq. Musica / Music: Juan Carlos Tolosa. Suono / Sound: Saverio Damiani. Produzione / Produced by: Graffiti Doc. Con / With: Rai Cinema. Coproduzione / Co-produced by: Iota Production, Tag Film, ARTE G.E.I.E. RTBF. Con il sostegno di / Supported by: Toscana Film Commission – Sensi Contemporanei, Film Commission Torino Piemonte – Piemonte Doc Film Fund, DG Cinema – Ministero della Cultura, CNC, Tax Shelter Belgio, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Distribuzione internazionale / World Sales: Antidote Sales. Distribuzione per l’Italia / Distributed in Italy by: Reading Bloom.

From the Planet of the Humans starts in the silence of the Ventimiglia border between Italy and France – a border no longer in the news. It’s where thousands of migrants had been blocked, but worst of all, it’s where silence reigns supreme, as if nothing is happening. The film starts as a survey and then turns into a fantastic fairy tale narrated by a chorus of frogs. In this tale, scientist experiments with rejuvenation techniques using monkey testicles. Dr Voronoff was a real person and was world-famous in the 1920s. His villa stands on the border where migrants try to cross.
The film premiered at the latest Locarno Film Festival.

“When they told me about Serge Voronoff, they showed me the villa on the border, the broken cages where he raised monkeys, I thought of a character from a fantasy film of that time. A Doctor Moreau, or the scientist from The Invention of Morel… I told myself that if I have to tell the silence of this border, I’ll tell it like in a fantasy film, set in another epoch, a present-day fairytale.” (G. Cioni)

Giovanni Cioni
Giovanni Cioni, filmmaker, has lived between Paris (where he was born in 1962), Brussels, where he was educated, Lisbon and Naples. Cioni currently lives and works in Mugello, Tuscany. He holds workshops and seminars in schools and universities in Italy and abroad. The Trieste FF presented his Dal ritorno (From the Return) in 2016.

filmografia scelta / selected filmography
2009 In Purgatorio doc.; Premi / Awards: Firenze, Festival dei Popoli – Premio del pubblico / Florence, Festival dei Popoli – Audience Award; Cinéma du Réel – Premio Patrimoine de l’Immatériel / Patrimoine de l’Immatériel Award 2012 Gli intrepidi doc. 2013 Per Ulisse doc.; Premi / Awards: Firenze, Festival dei Popoli – Miglior Film / Florence, Festival dei Popoli – Best Film 2015 Dal ritorno doc. 2017 Viaggio a Montevideo doc. 2019 Non è sogno doc.; Premi / Awards: Firenze, Festival dei Popoli – Menzione speciale della giuria internazionale / Florence, Festival dei Popoli – Special Mention of the international Jury 2021 Dal pianeta degli umani doc.