24/01/2019 - The young video artist, Ana Shametaj films a group of actors at a residence in the woods while they rehearse for a show at the Teatro Valdoca

A group of 12 actors spends three months rehearsing, studying and living together at a theatre in the middle of the woods on the Romagnolo Apennines. Young video artist Ana Shametaj, from Trieste and of Albanian origin, films the actors in order to document their experience in Wild Words [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which is in competition for the Corso Salani Award at Trieste Film Festival.

Among the young actors is Ondina Quadri, the star of Arianna [+see also:
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interview: Carlo Lavagna
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The show’s lines are written during the course of the rehearsals. Mariangela Gualtieri writes for the actors, taking into consideration their individual personal traits. She reads Pavese's poems to the group, inviting them to improvise, shout out words or modulate the choir. And the choir seems to be an essential element of the show, around which their solemn 'oaths' take shape. The documentary depicts the creation of a play, but it also bears witness to the radical work of Cesare Ronconi and Mariangela Gualtieri, both of whom are trained in the theatrical poetry of Tadeusz Kantor in Kracow, Jerzy Grotowski's Workshop Theatre, Peter Shumann’s American experience, the Bread and Puppet, the experiments of Bob Wilson, Richard Foreman, the Squat Theatre and the important Italian figure, Carmelo Bene. The actors Ronconi trains move as a dancing body with a poetic voice, a body with a sense of animality and epicness, in a ritual that rejects the need for narration. 

Ana Shametaj shot hours and hours of footage for the project, with photography handled by Greta De Lazzaris. The intention was to translate theatre into cinema, and create a fluid narration, thanks to the excellent contribution of editor Jacopo Quadri (who more recently collaborated with Mario Martone on Capri - Revolution [+see also:
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interview: Mario Martone
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film profile]). Quadri was involved in the project as an executive producer, as well as editing the film with Nicolò Tettamanti. Wild Words was produced by Ubulibri with Teatro Valdoca, in collaboration with RAI Cinema.

(Translated from Italian)