Hugo in Africa

  • Hugo en Afrique
Genre : Biography
Type : Documentary
Original title : Dans le labyrinthe africain de Hugo Pratt
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 2009
Format : Feature
Running time : 91 (in minutes)
http://www.hugoinafrica.com

Auf den Spuren des Afrika-Abenteurers Hugo Pratt.

Regie: Stefano Knuchel
Drehbuch: Stefano Knuchel
Kamera: Ariel Salati
Schnitt: Emanuela Andreoli
Ton: Ariel Salati, Riccardo Studer
Musik: Buda Musique, Zeno Gabaglio

Originalversion French/Italian (Italian subtitles), colour, DCP, 91 min.

Produktion
Venus and beyond
Cong SA
Alfredo Knuchel Filmproduktion
Radiotelevisione Svizzera

ProduzentInnen: Stefano Knuchel
Ausführender Produzent: Stefano Knuchel

Weltrechte: Venus and beyond
Verleih Schweiz: Venus and beyond
Uraufführung: September 2009


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Sinossi
Al momento della morte di Hugo Pratt nel 1995 il mondo intero gli ha reso omaggio. Si è detto di lui che era un grande artista e un grande avventuriero, ma nessuno ha detto che al momento della sua morte stringeva sul petto una croce etiope. Il suo rapporto intenso con l'Africa è rimasto misterioso fino alla fine.
Grazie a documenti audiovisivi assolutamente inediti e a un viaggio odierno, "Hugo in Africa" racconta questa storia d'amore segreta nata nel 1936, quando Pratt arriva in Etiopia con la famiglia. A soli dieci anni si ritrova proiettato dalla sua tranquilla infanzia veneziana nella sciagurata avventura fascista dell'Africa Orientale Italiana.
I sei anni che vi trascorre segneranno per sempre la sua vita e la sua opera nascente. Arruolato di forza diventa il più giovane soldato di Mussolini, e confrontato alle crudeltà e alle ambiguità della guerra sviluppa la morale che darà vita ai suoi personaggi, dal Tenente Koinsky al celebre Corto Maltese.
"Hugo in Africa" è il primo documentario dedicato a Pratt realizzato con il sostegno ufficiale di Cong, la società incaricata di proteggere e valorizzare l'eredità artistica di Hugo Pratt. Grazie a questo patrocinio il documentario propone per la prima volta le registrazioni del lungo lavoro biografico realizzato dallo storico Dominique Petitfaux, che per anni ha intervistato Pratt nella sua casa di Losanna, oltre a splendide immagini realizzate in Africa nel 1981 dal suo amico Jean Claude Guilbert; ed è proprio lo scrittore francese a guidarci oggi nel labirinto africano.
"Hugo in Africa" rappresenta il primo capitolo di un ambizioso lavoro di ricostruzione della vita del grande fumettista, che attraverso quattro capitoli permetterà di svelarne aspetti assolutamente inediti.

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When Hugo Pratt died in 1995 the whole world paid its respects. It's said he was a great artist and adventurer, but no one noted that when he died he was holding an Ethiopian cross to his chest. His intense relationship with Africa has remained mysterious until now.

Thanks to audiovisual documents never seen before and a recent trip, "Hugo in Africa" tells this secret love story, which began in 1936 when Pratt arrived in Ethiopia with his family. At ten years of age he found himself thrown from a normal Venetian childhood into a wretched Fascist adventure in Italian East Africa. The six years he spent there will mark his life and his work forever.

Enrolled against his will, he became Mussolini's youngest soldier and, confronted with the cruelties and ambiguities of war, he developed the moral standards that will give birth to his characters, from Lieutenant Koinsky to the famous Corto Maltese.

HUGO IN AFRICA it's the first documentary dedicated to Pratt realized with the official support of Cong, the society charged with the protection and the development of Hugo Pratt's body of work.

Thanks to this patronage, the documentary features for the first time, the recording of the lengthy interviews of Pratt in his Lausanne home by the historian Dominique Petitfaux.

These interviews are combined with the wonderful images realized in Africa in 1981 by his friend Jean Claude Guilbert; and it is this French writer himself who today guides us through the African labyrinth.

HUGO IN AFRICA represents the first chapter of an ambitious work to reconstruct the great cartoonist's life, which through four chapters will unveil aspects never seen before.


PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY Stefano Knuchel
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Pietro Gerosa
EDITING Emanuela Andreoli
PHOTOGRAPHY Ariel Salati
SOUND AND MIX Riccardo Studer
Line Producer: Stefano Knuchel

MUSIC
Scores from the collection "Les Ethiopiques" by Buda Musique
Original score by Zeno Gabaglio

NARATION WRITTEN BY Stefano Knuchel
NARRATOR: Jean Luc Bideau
GRAPHICS: Natalia Fiorini / Sergio Vannetti

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE POSTPPRODUCTION: Marco Bielli
HISTORIANS: Patrizia Zanotti / Jean Claude Guilbert
ETHIOPIAN LOGISTIC: Sara Teklu - Claude and Jedda Vilain

FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Migros pourcent culturel
Cantone Ticino
Film Plus Cantone Ticino
Passage Antenne
Succès Cinema

ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE
"La ballade plus loin" by Michèle Tournier and Jean Claude Guilbert
© 1981 INA - Institut national de l'audiovisuel, France
Hugo Pratt's voice: Recorded by Dominique Petitfaux for the book"Le désir d'être inutile" (Casterman éditions)
Photos, drawings, watercolors and cartoons by Hugo Pratt © Cong S.A. Lausanne. All rights reserved.
Photos at Fort Moulhoulé © Marco D'Anna, Lugano. All rights reserved.

WITH: In order of appearance
Kess Wodaje Assefa
Achenef Engdaw
Hugo Pratt
Giuseppe Camuncoli
Matteo Casali
Jean Claude Guilbert
Pietro Gerosa
Patrizia Zanotti
Marco D'Anna
Sultan Abdo Houmed
13ème demi-brigade de la Légion Etrangère de Djibouti
President of Djibouti Ismael Omar Guelleh

Original Version: French/Italian (Italian subtitles), colour, DCP, 91 min.

World Premiere: September 2009

A Venus and beyond production
in coproduction with Cong S.A. / Alfredo Knuchel Filmproduktion / RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera
World Rights: Venus and beyond
Distribution Switzerland: Venus and beyond


FESTIVALS / AWARDS / SCREENINGS

2009| 66th Venice Film Festival | VENICE, Italy | 2>12nd september | www.labiennale.org
* Selection [Orizzonti Events]
* WORLD PREMIERE

Articles

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Partners

  • Arterial network
  • Media, Sports and Entertainment Group (MSE)
  • Gens de la Caraïbe
  • Groupe 30 Afrique
  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS
  • Zimbabwe : Culture Fund Of Zimbabwe Trust
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS
  • Rwanda : Positive Production
  • Togo : Kadam Kadam
  • Niger : ONG Culture Art Humanité
  • Collectif 2004 Images
  • Africultures Burkina-Faso
  • Bénincultures / Editions Plurielles
  • Africiné
  • Afrilivres

With the support of