Terra incognita | Film database

A German family lives without electricity in a remote valley in the Piedmont Alps. Beyond the mountains, in southern France, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), an immense construction site with the goal of reproducing solar energy on Earth through atomic fusion, is underway. An overnight fire leads the family toward a radical turnaround, to realize their forbidden dream: to reach Canada, where they will establish an energy self-sufficient community. In parallel, 18 magnets are created in anonymous factories on the Italian coast, ready to leave on cargo ships bound for Marseille, where the mammoth artifacts are assembled in ITER's innards. The task of the magnets, invaded by plasma at hundreds of millions of degrees, is to make up for the deterioration of fossil resources and provide endless power. Human and technological forces develop in an intertwining that reveals the common need for energy retrieval.

After two years of researching the contradictions of the Anthropocene, I began studying the figure of Alexander von Humboldt, abetted by the passion and geographical influence of Professor Franco Farinelli. From here I began to write a subject, which we submitted to the call for development in June 2020. This subject was about a family living under the Monte Rosa glacier in autonomous forms. Then we started traveling through the European atomic landscape. ITER appeared to us as the most impressive attempt to solve the energy question. In the fall of 2020 we literally "discovered" the Keyenburg family nucleus, with whom we began a complex journey of approach. Terra Incognita, in its dimensions inspired by the three cornerstones of the Humboldtian Kosmos, takes shape, positioning itself as an international work of linguistic experimentation that narrates two radical ways that attempt to overcome the energy crisis.

Director

Enrico Masi

Story

Enrico Masi, Stefano Migliore

Screenplay

Enrico Masi

Director of photography

Stefano Croci; Tomas Rigoni (Assistente)

Film Editor

Carlotta Guaraldo

Original Music

Fabrizio Puglisi

Sound

Jacopo Bonora

Altri credits

Alessandra Lancellotti, João Pedro Amorim, Maddie Gwinn (Assistenti alla regia); Davide Rabacchin (Produttore Creativo); Carla Soriano Rodriguez, Rosvita Dransfeld (Supporto alla produzione); Alessandra Lancellotti, Giula Carbonero (Ricerche d'archivio); Alessandro Lestino - Music Lab (Lavorazioni sonore); Fabrizio Nastasi (Lavorazioni visuali); Teresa Serafini (VFX designer); Karianne Fiorini, Gianmarco Torri (Curatori); Gerd Keyenburg (Consulente alla sceneggiatura); Prof. Barbara Curli, Prof. Pierre Fournier, Alessandro Bonito-Oliva, Prof. Franco Farinelli, Prof. Alberto Vanolo, Pascal Cesaro, Davide Giusti (Comitato scientifico); Giuseppe Petruzzellis, Chiara Andrich, Adrien Faucheux (Supervisione al montaggio); Erica Pierri, Enrico Carnuccio (Fotografi di scena); Charlotte Parente (Illustratrice); Iosonouncane, Vera di Lecce, Achile Succi, Alberto Capelli, Margareth Kammerer, Vincenzo Vasi (Musicisti); Erika Gardumi - Rizoma (Ufficio Stampa); Rossana Ronconi (Responsabile distribuzione festival).

Cast and characters

Gerd, Annegret, Sophia, Waldtraut, Friedrich, Hanzi, Anton Keyenburg, Serge Latouche, Laban Coblentz, Davide Giusti, Mercedes Maria De Los Angeles, Alessandro Bonito Oliva.

Production Director

Stefano Migliore

Organizzatore generale

Stefano Migliore

Producer

Stefano Migliore, Lois Rocque, Kristof Garega, Sophie Ahrens, Fabian Altenried

Production

Caucaso, Les Alchimistes (Paris)

con il sostegno di Film Commission Torino Piemonte - Piemonte Doc Film Fund - sviluppo giugno 2020, produzione dicembre 2022

Distribution

Michaela Cajkova - Filmotor

Assistente alla regia

Alessandra Lancillotti

Assistente di produzione

Alice Solinas, Tecla Chiomio

Festival - markets - events

Selezione "Eurodoc 2021"

Last update: 03 March 2023