GENIUS MOVES THE WORLD
CARLO GUTTADAURO
“Canova had the courage not to copy the Greeks and to invent a beauty as the Greeks had done” (1816).
“[…] you have created one hundred statues, thirty of which are
masterpieces!” – Stendhal
The short film GENIUS MOVES THE WORLD is a tribute to the art of Antonio Canova and to his love for dance that creates lightness and moves the world. A journey with 3 protagonists: a cellar hand, Antonio Canova and the sculpture.
Here’s the story in brief:
A cellar hand from Treviso moves between the fermentation tanks in a Prosecco DOC cellar. He has with him a book of sculptures by Canova, and he leafs through it contemplating Hebe and other sculptures, as his mind wanders.
There, in that moment, he sees a block of marble, resembling a meteorite illuminated by a light from above.
Stunned in amazement, he approaches, looking around. The marble is infused with the energy of Antonio Canova who has chosen to celebrate the bicentennial of his death with an unusual gift. We know how artists are. The moment the cellar
hand touches the marble… we are transported to the late eighteenth century: Antonio Canova moves in search of inspiration, every artist has to deal with hesitations, regrets, inspirations and electric shocks of inspiration.
Idea and matter. A kind of short circuit.
The hand that touches the marble is the same that carves it, the hand can prune and the hand can sculpt. It is subtracting the superfluous and arriving at the essence. This is how Prosecco was born. There is a lot of work in the vineyard before seeing the bubbles sparkle.
Leaving the present we find ourselves in the time of Canova. It is a journey of vision because image is memory, memory is spirit and the spirit travels through time. In the laboratory marble leaps, moves, the material dances, Canova is sculpting Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera, cup-bearer of Olympus.
The sculptor and the sculpture.
The sculpture is not inert matter, it can live. Canova is obsessed by this idea.
After all, the artist gives form to the movement of life and wants us to have it.
The living sculpture stands in front of him.
She slowly comes to life from cold loneliness and discovers herself through her senses.
First smell, then touch.
A glass of Prosecco doc rosé has the power to awaken her.
In the beginning, life animates the sculpture in a slow and passionate awakening.
It is the aroma that first moves her within, that produces euphoria in her.
Ebe is alive and celebrates life by dancing.
She dances in the garden and in the villa: a residence of extraordinary beauty, Villa Molin in Padua, the ancient and neoclassical background in which Canova looks at her in amazement, stretches out his hands as if to touch a dream.
The statue has come out of itself and is produced in a dance. A dance as beautiful and bright as a sunny day.
The same dance that takes place in a glass of prosecco, producing emotions and images. The wine that dances in the glass brings us back to the cellar.
The block of marble is still there, the cellar hand looking at it in amazement. He decides to see what’s inside. The marble box reveals a bottle of prosecco, a light illuminates its contents while the cellar hand receives as a gift what he himself created.
He realized that seeing the enormous wealth of art in everyday life is not outside of us, but means making life more splendid and more beautiful every day.
A good glass of Prosecco doc is an authentic aesthetic experience.
Hebe is a sculpture again Canova goes back to sculpting.
The cellar hand continues his work.
The tape rewinds.
All the immages in the world are here and now.
In the genius that moves the world.
On the occasion of the Bicentennial of Antonio Canova’s death (1822-2022), director Carlo Guttadauro together with his ANAM CARA philosophy of image team have created a film freely inspired by the GENIUS who moves the world.
Director Biography:
Carlo received his degree in philosophy studying under Vittorio D’Anna at the ALMA MATER Studiorum at the University of Bologna with a theoretical thesis on Michel Henry. His research embraces photography and cinema phenomenologically, investigating the relationship between image, sound and movement. His experimental research aims to use experience to awaken reality with aesthetics being the point of departure. His studies and fields of application touch on the art of photography, cinema, visual arts and writing, with a constant objective: to seek the absolute in movement. He collaborates with esteemed “Made in Italy” companies, offering his advice in the areas of strategic marketing, image, identity and storytelling through analog and digital devices.
His short films on the subject of wine have been awarded in numerous short film festivals around the world in the last 5 years (2016-2021): He has won 4 times at the Oniros film festival in New York for best commercial, 3 times at the New York international film awards, twice at the Venice film awards for best supershort, twice at the Florence film awards as best supershort, 4 times at the Berlin flash film festival as best experimental film, best experimental film in Tokyo and Calcutta, received a nomination at the Paris film festival, an honorable mention at the Prague international indie film festival, won 3 times at Top Shorts, selected in Cannes and twice in London and in numerous film festivals around the world. “DZN Ca ‘del Bosco” was named the best video dedicated to wine in 2014 by Corriere della Sera. Carlo also served as a jury member at the Ribalta Experimental film festival in 2021.
He has exhibited his works at the European Photography exhibit in Reggio Emilia in 4 editions: “Incanto Fluido ”(2010) inspired by Venice; “Two Squares, Three Colors” (2011) together with the illustrator Sonia Maria Luce Possentini on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, at the De Bonis Contemporary Art Gallery in Reggio Emilia; “Rosso Pop” (2012), a visual project mixing photography and illustration; “Fili” (2012) food and wine visions, at the Regional Enoteca of Emilia Romagna; “CORRISPONDENZE” (2018), a photographic series of Angels. Together with the writer Gian Mario Villalta, he conceived and edited the book “100 ° Cantina San Simone”, presenting it at Pordenone Legge 2015. In 2017 and 2019 he won the “Silver Label” award at the International Packaging Competition, and won the “Gold Label” award in 2018.
CARLO GUTTADAURO