In the spring of 1950, Antonio Venditti was 8 years old. In order to receive paperwork related to his emigration to Canada, Antonio travelled with his family to Rome. This would be Antonio's first time leaving his hometown of Castropignano, 225km east of the capital. This film imagines that journey.

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Conjuring Landscape (Rome, 1948) accesses the peripheral archive in an attempt to envision young Antonio's experience. Sounds are taken from Vittorio De Sica's 1948 neorealist Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves), filmed on the streets of Rome around the same time as Antonio's journey, allowing an entry point toward a shared experience of time and space.  

 

Audio from Ladri bi biciclette

Director Vittorio De Sica
Sound by Biagio Fiorelli & Bruno Brunacci
Recorded in Rome, Italy, 1948