Films by Alessandro Melazzini

2023, 52 min
by Renzo Carbonera

In January 1693, a strong earthquake destroyed the town of Noto and more than 60 other places in south-eastern Sicily. In the following decades, placed in a new location, a unique Baroque city was born, absorbing influences from all over Europe. In this film we meet Noto and its inhabitants, who will lead us to discover the origin of 'Sicilian Baroque′.

Germany 2022, 52 min
by Simona Risi

Venice embodies the original and ideal idea of a city: a place of meeting, social life and exchange. The city has remained a village, with its small stores, narrow streets and hidden courtyards, places where it is still possible to meet the few remaining inhabitants. A village that is now ruled by the tourism industry, which doesn′t seem to have eyes for the city′s hidden treasures. The documentary tells of Venice beyond tourism and clichés, seen through the eyes of those who have been called "the last Venetians", artisans and historical inhabitants of the lagoon who live the city with passion, culture and memory.

Germany, Italy 2021, 52 min
by Alessandro Soetje

Terrible mountains is what Leonardo da Vinci called the peaks that surround the Valtellina. They take the leading role in this story, which is rendered with the help of spectacular film footage and the stories of local inhabitants.With its dry stone walls – a masterpiece that has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO – Valtellina is a land of traditions, contrasts and breathtaking landscapes. From the Stelvio National Park, with its imposing Forni glacier, to the peat bog of Pian Gembro, and from the mysterious crotti of Chiavenna to the terraced vineyards on the Rhaetian slope.In an attentive and intimate way, the film takes the audience on a journey along the river Adda that crosses the entire valley. It begins in winter until the following autumn according to the infinite cycle of nature, which is a stern but honest friend of the people living in this land located in the far north of Italy.

Italy, Germany 2021, 63 min
by Alessandro Melazzini

Italo Disco. The sparkling sound of the 80s immerses the audience in a musical universe of an era.An era where millions of young Europeans would let loose to a wild beat of music made with synthetic and captivating melodies, more or less weird English lyrics, electronic rhythms and visionary music videos.They were cybernetic tracks fueled by hopes and dreams of the young musicians, who were capable of releasing mind-blowing pop, and always moving between trash and brilliance.It was the world of Italo Disco: born in Italy, reinforced in Germany, that made the whole planet dance.By telling the birth and development of a music genre with many souls, this documentary analyzes the creative, productive and business aspects of what was a music industry and social phenomenon.By doing an in depth archive research with interviews to artists and leading personalities of that time.Pulsing to the engaging rhythm of tracks of that era, as well as revealing lesser-known cult songs unknown to the general public, Italo Disco. The sparkling sound of the 80s takes the viewer on a journey of discovery of a sound that is as commercial as it is futuristic.The sound of an era often told but not always understood.With: Michelangelo La Bionda, Carmelo La Bionda, Sabrina Salerno, Roberto Zanetti, Pierluigi Giombini, Johnson Righeira, Linda Jo Rizzo, Daniele Baldelli, DJ Hell, Mathias Modica, Claudio Casalini, Flemming Dalum, Ivo Stefano Germano, Christa Mikulski, Eckhart Schmidt

2019, 52 min
by Alessandro Soetje

Nine thousand years ago man chose to make his first home here. Matera. Perhaps the mother of all cities. Country of rocks, caves and human traces. Axis between East and West. The European Capital of Culture has experienced all that makes Europe different, from art to epoch making changes.

2019, 156 min
by Alessandro Melazzini, Inga Wolfram, Elke Werry

ITALYUsing the example of five monasteries, the film explores the artistic and cultural heritage of the Cistercian order in Italy. It shows how the materials of the Po Valley can be found in the Chiaravalle Milanese Abbey and how the art of the famous painter and builder Giotto was able to penetrate the usually stark rooms of a Cistercian church. In the buildings of the big abbeys of Lazio, influences of Burgundy are mixed with the traditions of local craftsmen. But the film also focuses on the monks representing the order today and regular visitors who try to leave their every day life behind and find some peace and quiet.FRANCEThe Cistercian order was founded in 1098 in Burgundy, France. Starting with the initial abbey, Cîteaux Abbey, the order soon became a Europe-wide active Christian order with a very strict set of rules. In search of spiritual renewal the Cistercians created architectural masterpieces, which became the vanguards of gothic architecture. Their abbeys are fixed points of reference in our European cultural landscape and reflect the history of a religious movement that still exists today. The film will focus on Pontigny Abbey, La Trappe Abbey in Normandy and the world heritage site Fontenay.GERMANYWithin 200 years the Cistercians founded 650 abbeys worldwide. In the twelfth century alone they founded 91 abbeys for men and 15 abbeys for women only on the territory that is modern day Germany. During the Middle Ages joining an Abbey could have been seen as an emancipatory act for women, as it was a way to avoid the rule of men. Women’s abbeys were also the only places at the time, where girls had the opportunity to learn to read and write. The film is exploring Cistercian history in Germany and focuses on, amongst others, the three still active abbeys: Waldsassen Abbey in Bavaria, St. Marienstern Abbey in Saxony and Wienhausen Abbey in Lower Saxony.

Germany, Italy 2018, 72 min
by Alessandro Soetje

The caustic, bohemian Daniele Kihlgren is the rebellious third child of a wealthy family of cement industry magnates.In the late 90s, he rides his motorbike to Santo Stefano di Sessanio, a medieval village perched on top of the rugged mountains of Abruzzi. It is love at first sight.He realizes that in a place like that he can fulfil an old dream of his –- perfectly restoring a run-down medieval town, and turning it into a hotel. The bottom line is to make a profit from the conservation of the landscape rather than from its destruction, as is so often the case in Italy.The idea is good and it works. Tourists start flocking to Santo Stefano. Emboldened by his success, Kihlgren buys houses in other old villages, and develops a similar plan for the Sassi of Matera. However, he has more an artistic than an entrepreneurial temperament. A careless financial management, combined with an almost obsessive perfectionism, soon causes trouble.In the unique, splendid scenery of Italy’s hidden treasures, director and d.o.p. Alessandro Soetje tells the story of a man who, like his own country, has a big heart but perhaps cannot love himself.

2017, 54 min
by Alessandro Melazzini

The life of Ilona Staller, commonly known as Cicciolina, is probably unique with regard to her art as well as her person. Emigrating from communist Hungary, she followed the call of the 'dolce vita' to Italy and found it a fertile environment for a life dedicated to scandal. When she started posing as a scantily dressed nymph in naughty photographs her career picked up speed and steadily propelled her into the realms of radio, TV, erotic films and pornography. As the first porn star in the history of democracy, Ilona Staller managed to be elected Member of Parliament and her unexpected victory guaranteed her worldwide attention. Her turbulent relationship with Jeff Koons, whose wife and muse she became, finally secured her iconic status in contemporary pop culture.Based on profoundly researched archive material and directed both with passion and a twinkle of irony, La Cicciolina. Godmother of Scandal captures the phenomenon Ilona Staller in its multiple facets and places it in the wider context of Italy's political situation at the time.

Germany, Italy 2014, 72 min
by Alessandro Melazzini

A documentary film that uses high production values to showcase an extraordinary place in the heart of Europe: The Stelvio Pass. Here, at 3,000 meters above sea-level in the middle of the Italian Alps, one finds an imposing natural treasure where the present meets the past and the visitor discovers a breath-taking landscape and mountain sports experience. But people once battled here not just for sporting reasons: 100 years ago the Stelvio Pass was the highest and coldest battlefield of WWI. Objects from that cruel war are still found in the snow by people like Mario, who collects war remains in his spare time. Through Mario’s story and other characters this documentary film enables us to discover the unexpected power and magic of a fascinating alpine microcosm.

Germany 2013, 100 min
by Angelo Bozzolini

The Italian character: a film within music and about music.The Italian character is the story of one of the most renowned orchestras in the world, enriched by archive material of the last thirty years about the great conductors who have been performing on the most famous rostrum in Rome. Today, this post belongs to Sir Antonio Pappano, an Anglo-American with Beneventian roots, who rediscovered an essential part of his Italian origins conducting the Orchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.In the documentary, a production of Alpenway Media Production GmbH directed by Angelo Bozzolini, the story vividly unfolds itself: It portrays the planning and performance of a great project; it shows how the sound ripens from the first rehearsal to the final applause of a sold-out music hall, what happens to the musicians before they enter the stage, and how they release the tension at the end of a concert.With the personal histories of the members and the conductor of the orchestra, The Italian character allows its audience to gain an insight into a fascinating world that is usually concealed from it. Simultaneously, it tells the story of a national institution, of a historically singular development, of an approach to life that is characteristic for a country which is loved by many, but sometimes misunderstood and even underrated in its unknown variety.How do you arrive at making classical music? Which efforts does this job require every day? What special relationship binds each artist to his instrument? What do they experience on stage? How do you explain the transformation of extreme suspense during the concert into exuberant joy afterwards? – The documentary will answer these questions with a grand, stirring, polyphonic narrative.Beside the main story line, the film calls forth the presence of some of the best soloists and orchestra conductors in the world presenting material collected during their collaboration with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia, and consequently with the Italian character.In these moments the “inner” life description of the orchestra will be completed by contribution of friends from “outside”, by their perspectives, their thoughts about the italian character and about their relation with this extraordinary ensemble of passionate musicians.

Germany 2011, 55 min
by Alessandro Melazzini

What is a colonel from the Italian army doing in mountains of Bavaria? He is one of 600,000 Italians that live in Germany. Each of them has a story to tell which no one in Italy knows. Instead, in the Federal Republic, these adopted citizens are considered amongst the best integrated. Four millions Italian emigrants decided to seek their fortune beyond the Alps from the middle of the twentieth century onwards. Many have returned but many have remained. While the flow of migrants North has slowed down in the last few decades, a new form of emigration has recently emerged. Technicians and scientists have found better conditions for study and research across the border. Maybe all of these lives in movement have drained some professionalism from Italy. They have definitely enriched Germany, making it a little more tender and a little more Latin.