Fronti

After  Il grande bianco. Trascendenza della Grande Guerra and after Guerra nostra, the third chapter of the Trilogia della Grande Guerra by Roberto Paci Dalò is represented by Fronti. The work is created from rare images shot on the Eastern alpine front line during the first war; it is a cinematographic work that shows the feeling of suspense of the trench war.

Fronti is based on the same materials used by Roberto Paci Dalò for the creation of Guerra Nostra. These filmic materials, kept in the Archives of Home Movies – National Archives of Family Films, constitute an important historical testimony of the First World War. Fronti does not focus on the documentary aspect of the conflict, but reveals the expectation, stasis and metaphysical silence of the trench warfare. The music of the soundtrack, for clarinet, alpine choir and live electonics, is a lively counterpoint to the black and white images of the film.

The painful permanence of the trench soldiers.

The original shots, made by the same operators of the front and generative materials of Fronti, are an unprecedented historical testimony of the First World War.
The faces of the soldiers, the usual displacements of weapons and goods, the animal-like movement of the tanks and, above all, the typical wartime inaction of the trench warfare emerge. Roberto Paci Dalò emphasizes this aspect by revealing a paradox of the First World War: the painful permanence of the trench soldiers.
This is how sounds and images are slowed down to evoke the long times and stagnation of the conflict.
Fronti decomposes and readapts Guerra Nostra: it uses the same filmic materials, the shared matrix of the two films, but it assembles them in a different way. He also adds the original score for clarinet, alpine choir and live electronics, used for the play for Il grande bianco. Transcendence of the Great War.

Fronti, Roberto Paci dalò

Fronti, Roberto Paci dalò

Fronti, Roberto Paci dalò

Fronti, Roberto Paci dalò

Opposite to war imaginary

In Fronti everything is suspended and tense, precarious and unstable.
The original score for clarinet, alpine choir and live electronics creates an abstract and immersive sound environment, completely opposite to the one that represents the war imaginary, made instead of strong sounds and impetuous explosions.
Fronti is a “metaphysical moment” where what happens is above all on the psychic level. The apparent external inactivity of the conflict corresponds to the inner emotional dynamism that the soldiers in the trenches conceal and oppress.

Excerpt from Fronti, Roberto paci Dalò

Publications

Calendar

When

Project

Venue

City

15-16 December 2016

Premio Dubito Cox18

Milan (I)

10 November 2016

Santa Maria della Scala

Siena (I)

1 November 2016

Museo Archeologico - Sala Risorgimento Archivio Aperto Festival

Bologna (I)

18 May 2016

Al Blu di Prussia

Naples (I)

27-30 April 2016

Teatro dell'Arte

Milan (I)

19 March 2016

Teatroltre

Pesaro (I)

Credits

For the film Fronti

direction
Roberto Paci Dalò

idea
Roberto Paci Dalò

For the original score

composition
Roberto Paci Dalò

direction, live electronics, clarinet
Roberto Paci Dalò

choir
La Baita Choir, Scandiano

production
Giardini Pensili

in collaboration with
Archivi di Home Movies – Archivio Nazionale del Film d Famiglia