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PALIOTRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL - PRESS NOTES
TRT: (TBC) minutes
TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
Saturday, April 18, 6:00pm — Bowtie Cinemas, Chelsea (World Premiere)Sunday, April 19, 10:30am — Regal Battery Park Stadium 11 (P&I)
Sunday, April 19, 7:30pm — Regal Battery Park Stadium 11Wednesday, April 22, 8:00pm — Regal Battery Park Stadium 11
Thursday, April 23, 11:00am— Regal Battery Park Stadium 11 (P&I)Saturday, April 25, 3:45pm — Regal Battery Park Stadium 11
Press Contacts Film SalesClare Anne Darragh / Jeff McBride Mike RunagallFRANK PR Altitude Film SalesOffice: +1 646 861 0843 Office: +44 207 478 [email protected] Cell: +44 7795 847 [email protected] [email protected]
PALIOSHORT SYNOPSIS
The Palio is the oldest horse race in the world, and turns the Italian city of Siena into a high-stakes battleground of strategy, intrigue, and simmering machismo. In the eye of the storm stand the jockeys – adored if they succeed, despised if they fail. PALIO follows the legendary maestro Gigi Bruschelli, winner of 13 races and master of the intrigues that surround the Palio, and his former protégé Giovanni Atzeni, a handsome young contender driven by a fearless passion to become number one. This heart-racing new documentary exposes the notoriously closed world of this ancient race and the larger-than-life personalities of those involved in an epic and cinematic tale of Italian life in microcosm.
LONG SYNOPSISTwice a year the Italian city of Siena turns into battleground of strategy, intrigue and simmering machismo for the oldest horse race in the world: the Palio. The Sienese work all year for this race, which never lasts more than ninety seconds. The captains of the city's 17 competing districts nurture their alliances and plots, the jockeys make secret, last minute, deals amongst themselves and tens of thousands of spectators wait anxiously for ecstasy or despair.
In the eye of the storm stand the jockeys. Passionately loved or violently loathed by the districts (contrade) they represent, they make secret and lucrative deals amongst themselves, which may or may not be in the interest of those they ride for. These ceaseless attempts to control fate are an essential feature of the Palio. This is not a race – it is a strategic battleground.
Legendary rider Gigi Bruschelli has won 13 Palios in 16 years. Born in Siena, the Palio is in his blood. He has mastered the system – training younger jockeys, forging alliances with the district captains and influencing which horses are chosen to race. Two races away from beating the world record, Bruschelli will do anything to win. But one jockey stands in his way, his former apprentice, a handsome young Sardinian, Giovanni Atzeni. Giovanni is quietly preparing to challenge his old mentor. Giovanni needs to win to prove his worth or the district captains will find someone new and his career may be over. This is his advantage; the fearless confidence of youth and his existential need for victory. He is determined to challenge Bruschelli’s status as ‘King of the Square’.
Director Cosima Spender captures the passion, intrigue and intensity of the Palio, entering a world very few have been given access to and uncovering a story better than any scripted feature. A behind the scenes look at the most exhilarating and dramatic race in the world, PALIO is the thrilling story of a young outsider desperate for success in a dangerous but lucrative race, and the legendary insider who has dominated the Palio, and consequently the Sienese, for over a decade. Their passionate and dramatic battle is an epic and cinematic tale of Italian life in microcosm.
PALIOPRESS RELEASE
AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKERS LAUNCH ‘PALIO’ WITH WORLD PREMIERE IN COMPETITION AT THE 2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
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LONDON – Tuesday 3 March 2015. A new Anglo-Italian feature documentary, PALIO, about the thrills and spills, ambitions and corruption that characterize one of the world’s oldest and most exhilarating events, has been selected to screen In Competition at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T and held 15-26 April in New York.
Directed by Cosima Spender, PALIO is co-produced by James Gay-Rees, whose credits include the eagerly anticipated Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy, internationally acclaimed award-winning Senna, and the Oscar®-nominated Exit Through the Giftshop, with John Hunt. Francesco Melzi d’Eril, behind award-winning features including Black Souls Border, White Shadow and I Am Love, executive produced. Altitude Film Sales is representing PALIO to international buyers.
Twice a year the Italian city of Siena goes crazy for the oldest horse race in the world: the Palio. Not your average race: strategy, alliances and corruption play as much a part as the skill of the riders. Legendary jockey Gigi Bruschelli has monopolized the Palio for the last 16 years. Two races away from beating the world record, Bruschelli will do anything to win. But one jockey, former apprentice Giovanni Atzeni, challenges his position as the ‘King of the Square’.
Director Cosima Spender says, “I grew up with the Palio so I was uniquely placed to gain the trust of everyone involved in the film and our narrator character was able to open doors which are normally closed to outsiders. Yet as a foreigner (I work out of London and my parentage is Anglo-American), I shared the jockeys' ambiguous relationship with Siena, and that is what I wanted to capture in this film. The editor, Valerio Bonelli is a Tuscan speaker and he brought a classic feature film narrative to the material.”
Producer James Gay-Rees says, “The politics, passion, intensity and heritage of the Palio are in some ways very similar to those of Formula One. As with Senna we have managed to get under the skin of this amazing world and shine a light on one of the most compelling spectacles on the planet.”
Producer John Hunt says, “Filmmakers from Federico Fellini to John Huston tried to tell the inside story of the Palio but never got access, because Siena kept the outside world at bay. When Monte dei Paschi, the world’s oldest bank and the backbone of Siena’s economy was threatened with bankruptcy, we negotiated an historic agreement with the Sienese to share a story that I had been obsessed with for 30 years and assembled a talented team to capture this epic drama.”
Cosima Spender is a graduate of the UK’s National Film and Television School, one of the world’s leading film schools which has launched the careers of numerous leading international filmmakers. Spender has made award-winning documentaries for BBC Storyville including Without Gorky (Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011, LA Film Festival 2012, Melbourne Film Festival 2012); Dolce Vita Africana (Sheffield Doc/Fest, NY African Film Festival); and The Importance of Being Elegant (FESPAC 2005). Her first film, Life and Death on Exmoor, won awards at Sheffield, Poitiers, St Petersburg and Amsterdam.
The editor of PALIO is Valerio Bonelli, currently working as co-editor on Ridley Scott’s The Martian with Matt Damon. Bonelli has recently worked with Stephen Frears on Icon, about the rise and fall of the Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, their second collaboration after the Oscar®-nominated Philomena. A multi-award-winning theatrical and television documentary film editor, Bonelli worked with Oscar®-winning film editor Pietro Scalia on several Ridley Scott films (Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down), with Rob Marshall (Memoirs of a Geisha), Jordan Scott (Cracks) and Steven Knight (Hummingbird). Alex Heffes (Icon, The Last King of Scotland, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) composed the score and the cinematographer is Stuart Bentley (Our World War, Glue, The Rise).
Mike Runagall, Managing Director of Altitude Film Sales says, “We have had considerable interest from international distributors for PALIO, a story of intrigue, ambition and passion that plays out better than a scripted feature. We are delighted that Tribeca is premiering the film in competition and the much-deserved recognition this brings to an incredible film.”
ENDS
PALIODIRECTORS STATEMENT
By COSIMA SPENDER
Growing up in Siena, I came across Palio obsessed children every day throughout school. I wanted to make my graduation film on the race, but I was not yet ready to face the complexity of it: the Palio is a gargantuan subject matter with thousands of possible stories. Twelve years and three films later, in 2012, I threw myself into proper research with the help of a local vet who knew all the players: captains, jockeys, horse breeders.
From the start I wanted to focus on the jockeys as it all revolves around them. The relationship between the people of Siena and the jockeys is steeped in extreme emotion. Jockeys are loved when they win and despised when they lose.
I chose to follow Gigi Bruschelli because he was the Machiavellian ‘King of the Square’. But I also wanted a young contender. I chose Giovanni Atzeni because he was half-German and half-Sardinian, which I could immediately relate to being bicultural myself. Though Giovanni is timid, gentle and well mannered, I could sense a steeliness that was engrained by his dedication and hard training. The two of them were clearly connected. They had a relationship in the past, Giovanni was trained by Gigi, but they were now rivals.
During my research and shoot, I became good friends with Silvano Vigni (aka Bastiano). I loved hanging out with him and his good friend Sergio Profeti – the ultimate Palio nerd. Their constant banter reminded me of Goldoni’s theatre. They enlightened me into the archaic patterns of behavior typical of the Palio. There are so many layers of mysteries, tricks and deals in a game where there are no rules.
My cinematographer, Stuart Bentley, had a father hooked on spaghetti westerns, so it all came naturally to him. We were keen to make the Palio look like a scripted feature in terms of look and aesthetic. I wanted the story to unfold before our eyes as much as possible to remember the old ‘cinema-vérité’ documentaries I have always loved. Stuart was up for anything despite carrying a 25kg Alexa camera on his shoulder most of the time. On the first day of shoot we were on the back of a pick up truck bouncing on a bail of hay while travelling at 50mph alongside a horse.
Giancarlo Dellapina was a brilliant sound-recordist who had no qualms about putting radio mics on the dodgiest of characters in the most difficult situations. We drove the Sienese mad with his boom – it’s in every still shot of the race.
The summer we filmed, the story between Gigi and Giovanni was still unclear, as there are ten jockeys vying for glory. The people were more preoccupied with ‘Gigi versus the younger jockeys’ as a whole, rather than a particular young jockey. But after Giovanni’s double triumph, it was clear the story was Gigi versus Giovanni. In the cutting room, the editor Valerio Bonelli
really chiseled away at the material to make this the central human drama, while structuring the explanation of the Palio game around it.
We were lucky to be able to follow a particular moment in the Palio that is extremely rare – a changeover of power within the jockey’s ranks. We’ve created a documentary with a classic epic narrative: the young ‘apprentice’ finds the inner strength to overthrow his former, more cynical ‘master’. The story became much more than a film about the Palio it was almost Shakespearean; a King being dethroned.
I had no idea Giovanni was going to win once, let alone both Palios. Was it instinct or luck? I will never know. Perhaps having a crew following and believing in him, gave Giovanni the extra confidence he needed to fly. On the last day of shoot he looked at me intensely and said, “You made me do it. Thank you”. That was every documentary filmmaker’s dream. Gigi didn’t have quite the same reaction, but you can’t please everybody in life.
For me, this film is a perfect microcosm of Italy. It encapsulates beauty, tradition, history but also deception, bribery and corruption.
Cosima Spender
PALIO
FACT SHEET: WHAT IS THE PALIO?
The Palio is an ancient horse race run twice each year – on July 2 and August 16 in the city of Siena, Italy.
The city of Siena is divided into 17 districts, called contrade, with a horse and jockey representing each one. 10 contrade participate in each race.
The winning district receives no money, they race for glory and a banner of painted silk. The horses are assigned randomly to the districts. Each district hires a jockey to ride for
them - there is no certainty that a jockey will race on a horse he has trained with. There are secret pacts and deals made between the jockeys, right up to the moment the
race starts. A jockey may be bribed to help an ally, to hinder a rival, or both. Each contrade elects a captain to build alliances, and try to vanquish its rival district. A losing jockey may be considered corrupt and be attacked by the people of the district
for which he rode; in the past, a few were stabbed to death for perceived treachery. The race circles the Piazza del Campo three times and lasts no longer than 90 seconds. A riderless horse can win the race - and has done so on 23 occasions. The police give the jockeys stretched, dried ox penises with which to whip each other. The first recorded Palio was in the year 1238 but the race is probably much older still. A district that fails to come first may still feel victorious if it beats its rival district. Members of the winning district celebrate by sucking babies’ pacifiers to symbolize that
their district has been reborn. It is almost impossible to bet on the Palio because so much remains unknown until the
start of the race. Extra races (known as Extraordinary Palios) are sometimes held to celebrate an
important event (e.g. the millennium or a 500th anniversary!).
PALIOFILMMAKER BIOS
Cosima Spender, Co-Writer and DirectorCosima Spender is a film director currently living in London with her husband, editor Valerio Bonelli, and her two sons. She was born and grew up in Italy in an English artists’ family and moved to England at fourteen. A university degree in anthropology and art history from the University of London sparked her interest in story telling, identity, and traditions. Graduating from the National Film and Television School in 2001, Cosima has directed three documentaries for BBC Storyville that were sold internationally (Without Gorky, Dolce Vita Africana, The Importance of Being Elegant) and has directed commercial work in the music world. John Hunt, Co-Writer and ProducerJohn is a creative entrepreneur with a passion for making things, who has created or co-created companies employing thousands of people. His primary focus is on the technology and consumer sectors but through his holding company, Archimedia, he has interests in film (Ink Factory), healthcare (Qinec), hospitality (Aman Resorts), retail (Le Chameau, Made and Moncler), performance metrics (Geckoboard), sailing (Wally Yachts), telecoms (Virgin Mobile) and wine and food (Noma, Oriel and Gran Clos). His passion for creating expresses itself through producing architecture, film, opera, theatre and wine and he is currently creating a museum of espionage and cyber-security. As a philanthropist, John supports entrepreneurs and under-privileged kids, having been both. He recently created a forum that helps social entrepreneurs (Expert Impact) and catalysed a platform that provides tutoring free to under-privileged kids (Tutor Fair). John has been fascinated by the Palio for thirty years and has written a book on the subject that will be published in 2015. PALIO is his first documentary.
James Gay-Rees, ProducerJames has produced a wide variety of films including the double BAFTA-winning Senna directed by Asif Kapadia, and the Academy Award-nominated Exit Through The Gift Shop directed by Banksy. After graduating from Southampton University in 1988 James worked briefly for Arthur Andersen in London before moving on to Miramax Films in New York and then Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles. Since setting up Midfield Films as a first-look deal with Working Title Films in 1998, he has produced 11 films. In 2014 James joined forcers with Asif Kapadia, Jolyon Symonds and David Morrissey to form 'On The Corner', an independent production company for original, high quality drama and documentaries. Beyond Palio, James' latest productions are Amy, a feature documentary on the life and death of Amy Winehouse directed by Asif Kapadia and Being Cristiano, an intimate portrait of the legendary footballer directed by Anthony Wonke.
Stuart Bentley, CinematographerStuart is a London based Director of Photography working internationally in feature films, television dramas, commercials, and promos. He shot the critically acclaimed feature documentary, Fire in Babylon, and has since shot numerous award winning feature films and TV
dramas. His feature debut, Wasteland, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. He most recently completed This is England ’90 alongside director Shane Meadows. He continues to shoot commercials internationally between his long-term projects.
Valerio Bonelli, EditorValerio is a film editor based in London. He has worked on feature films and television productions around the world. Valerio graduated from the National Film and Television School in 2001. At the very start of his career Valerio assisted Oscar-winning film editor Pietro Scalia on several Ridley Scott films including Gladiator, Hannibal, and Black Hawk Down and was associate editor on Rob Marshall's Memoirs Of A Geisha. He collaborated with Stephen Frears on the Oscar nominated film Philomena in 2013 and Icon, a film about the rise and fall of the seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, in 2014. The film is due for release in the summer of 2015 and is produced by Working Title. He has also worked with writers and directors Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Steven Knight. Valerio is currently working on the new Ridley Scott film titled The Martian with Matt Damon.
PALIOPRINCIPAL CHARACTER/SUBJECT DESCRIPTIONS
Gigi Bruschelli (“Trecciolino”), jockeyGigi, current ‘King of the Square,’ is 46 years old and has won 13 Palios in 16 years. He is reputed to be the most strategic jockey to ever compete in the Palio. He has mastered the dynamics of the competition by mentoring young jockeys and training many of the best Palio horses. Though he has brought victory to many districts of the city, Gigi is considered a controversial character by the people of Siena. Going into this season, Gigi hopes to win his 14th and 15th Palio’s and beat the record for most wins (currently held by Aceto) before he retires. Giovanni Atzeni (“Tittia”), jockeyThe dashing 29-year-old Giovanni is one of the most favoured jockeys at the moment. He was brought to Siena at age 19 to work for Gigi Bruschelli. He got his nickname through his habit of muttering ‘Tittia’ every morning, which means ‘cold spell’ in Sardinian. Giovanni is half-German and half-Sardinian and lives outside Siena with his Sienese wife and their child. He is a polite and sensitive young man with a steely determination to make it to the top. Although he trained with Gigi for many years, they are now rivals and Giovanni represents a new generation. Andrea de Gortes (“Aceto”), jockeyAceto is an Italian legend. The retired 72-year-old jockey holds the modern-day record for the most wins in the Palio, with 14 victories between 1965 and 1992. Aceto is beguilingly charming – a complete extrovert, with a wicked tongue and an enormous ego. He’s been on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! and has met both the Pope and Pavarotti. Silvano Vigni (“Bastiano”), jockeyBastiano is a 57-year-old retired jockey. He grew up in the countryside south of Siena and was Aceto’s arch-enemy during the 70’s and 80’s. Today, he is a vocal critic of Gigi Bruschelli, and of the way the district captains run the Palio. Bastiano is a farmer, from a long line of communist farmers, whose wisdom and sardonic sense of humor make him a great storyteller. He puts things in perspective and is open about how the Palio has changed over the years, and acts as a fountain of knowledge and history throughout the documentary.
Renato Romei, Captain of AquilaAn intelligent and compassionate man, Renato is a retired heart surgeon. Twice captain of the Aquila district, he is the embodiment of the loyal supporter.
PALIOINTERVIEWS
COSIMA SPENDER / Director & Writer
What is the documentary about?Palio is a film I wanted to make at film school for my graduation film, but luckily there wasn’t enough time to prepare it. I say luckily because actually I really needed a bigger production, not just a couple of months in Siena. It needed a whole team; it needed a lot of cameras. We needed to make a very complicated arrangement with the city of Siena, who own the images of the Palio. And we assured them that we were going to make a fair portrayal that wasn’t sensationalist but was still truthful.
It’s a film I’ve always wanted to make because I grew up there – my parents were English, they were hippies and so they moved to Italy back in the 60s to grow their cabbages and make art. So I was born and grew up just outside Siena and even though I’d always seen the Palio and been part of it, I was always a bit of an outsider because I was the English foreign girl. I think because of that I’d always had this desire to really understand it; what it was about, this passion. When you’re at school the first question anyone asks you is “what’s your name?” and the second question I was always asked was “which contrade [district of Siena] are you from?”. I didn’t have a contrade so I felt like the odd one out and so going back there to make this film was a chance for me to really understand what I hadn’t understood as a child growing up there.
How did you choose which story to tell?The focus on the jockeys was such a natural choice for me because they are, in a way, the outsiders too. The jockeys are the mercenaries, they are guns for hire so they could go to any contrade they want. And they’re fabulous characters, they’re really great out-of-the-box characters which is great for a film, and they can be very truthful and give you an insider view of what’s behind the Palio.
What makes Siena and the race so special?Siena is a place where politics and banking were invented – deals were invented there. The first bank in the world started in Siena – they all know about deals and, in a way, our culture really comes from Siena. In some way we can all feel a connection with this ancient world, it’s like this little tiny medieval fragment that’s still pulsating with life.
What is a contrade?In medieval times, the city was divided into different districts. Each district had a military battalion and it all goes back to their glory days in 1260 when Siena, this tiny city state, managed to beat Florence – which was much bigger – in the Battle of Montaperti.
So the military battalions have become, in a way, the contrade and they each have their own identity, their own laws, legislations, traditions. In certain contrade women cant speak for instance; it’s a very male world. You’re born into a contrade, you’re baptized in a contrade, it’s like the fabric of the city and if you’re a teenager and you’re having problems – for instance you’re getting into drugs or something, the contrade will save you. They’ll go in, the elders, and they’ll just make sure you get your shit together basically, and it’s kind of the support system of the city. Each contrade collects blood in a blood bank in case people need blood. So the city of Siena is perhaps the only city that really doesn’t need a state, they could just function by themselves completely.
Given the secrecy around the Palio, why did you think it was so important that the documentary was made?For me, it’s really important to show the diversity of traditions and cultures. For me it’s so unique to have a living tradition that is so ancient in Europe today. You go to Africa, Asia, you find a lot of traditions and you expect that but you don’t often find this still going on in Europe. And for me it’s important to draw people in, to give them have a little insider view to the Palio. So it becomes more than a brutal race around the piazza, and I hope audiences can really understand the context and how much feeling is attached to it, how people’s identity is attached to it and how it supports Siena.
What is your favorite aspect of the film?My favorite aspect of the film is the characters, I mean, it’s always about the characters in a film. And not only are the characters entertaining, intriguing, very handsome men but also there’s so much drama in the race itself so you have everyone’s personal journey within this big dramatic overall narrative which is the Palio.
PALIOINTERVIEWS
JOHN HUNT / Producer & Writer
What is the documentary about?The film is about passion, rivalry, intrigue and community – it’s about Italy in microcosm. To the casual observer, the Palio looks like chaos, hellfire and corruption, but if you look closely you will find an amazing model of civic harmony and continuity.
The ninety-second race that the outside world sees is a time warp, for, as the jockeys say: “If you’re in front, it’s never-ending, but if you’re at the back it’s over in a second.” The Sienese say “Il Palio e vita”, the Palio is life, because it contains so many of the crucial elements of life: enduring hopes and dreams; heartfelt fear and grief; individual struggle and community belonging; time rushing past and time standing still. To live in Siena during the days leading up to the Palio is to explore time itself—to journey through the past and connect to the present. Our film takes you inside the time warp, to the eye of the storm, through the eyes of the jockeys.
What’s your favorite aspect of the film? What are you most proud of to date?I believed this opportunity might never come again so my goal from the outset was to do the job definitively. We had no way of knowing who would win or where the drama would unfold, and I love that we look incredibly lucky to have followed the right characters, but luck occurs where preparation meets opportunity. I am proud of having taken the decision (and the substantial risk) to invest heavily to ensure that we had crews following many jockeys (and action almost everywhere) so that our team would have the right material to work with.
Why do you feel it’s important that the documentary was made?This is the greatest story never told. For 800 years the people of Siena have been staging this battle and managed to keep it almost secret – the most that the outside world sees is the superficial coverage on Italian TV. As a passionate aficionado of the Palio for over thirty years I have described it endlessly, but no amount of discussion could bring it to life the way a film could. When I heard about the collapse at Monte dei Paschi, I worried about Siena and I felt compelled to capture the real inside story of the Palio on film and share it with the world. It was important to capture it immediately just in case the Palio might be forced to change.
What are you aspirations for the documentary?I hope that people will relate to the essential human drama, relate to the eternal tale of regeneration, and that the film will stay with them for a long time. I hope it will intrigue people, make them feel they are seeing something fresh and unexpected, and make them want to experience the delirious glory of the Palio, and the astonishing culture of Siena, for themselves. Together with the book that I have written to go with the film, I hope it will also make any naysayers understand the enormous significance of the Palio, and how it has helped Siena to
preserve its cultural identity and its civic unity, while so many other ancient cities have lost theirs.
Who would enjoy this documentary and why?Everyone who loves a great story would love this film. It has compelling characters, a gripping narrative arc and many breathtaking moments. It’s also a very beautiful film, a sensory feast with an outstanding score and great emotional intensity. And finally, as I said before, it’s a microcosm of Italy – with so much passion, rivalry, intrigue and drama in a historic setting – and everyone loves Italy!
PALIOINTERVIEWS
JAMES GAY-REES / Producer
What was your relationship to the Palio at the start of this documentary?I didn’t really know much about it until we really arrived in Siena and there’s an awful lot to get your head around with the Palio because it is a very complicated, ancient sort of event that outsiders find very hard to break down. I knew it was amazing because as soon as you start mentioning it to people, people start saying, “Oh God yeah, I’ve been there and it’s fantastic”.
So we just got on with it really and it was everything I’d hoped it was going to be. John [Hunt] put it very well, when he said, “I want to make the Senna of Siena.” I made the Senna film so obviously the idea appealed to me of making something as dramatic as Senna, but in a completely different sort of environment; where you don’t have Formula One cars you have horses, you don’t have race tracks you have this beautiful square… It was so different but so similar in certain ways. There’s the young pretender and there’s the King. So the dilemmas of the narrative aren’t entirely dissimilar.
Can you talk about how you unraveled this quite “complicated” event?There are lots of ancient traditions and antagonisms between the different contrade. To peel back the layers of intrigue and corruption in the Palio is difficult but fundamentally, at the end of the day, it’s a horse race and one guy’s got to win. What’s great about it is that a rider-less horse can win! So yes, it is complicated but you can just enjoy it for what it is which is an incredibly dramatic 90 seconds with 70,000 people losing their minds in a tightly compressed square. Of course there are lots of strategies and games being played within those 90 seconds and you pick up some of that before, during, and after and it all adds to the kind of … mystery, which is part of the beauty of it. I’ve been to 2 Palios now and I still probably understand 5 percent of it but that’s fine, you still love the experience of being there. And really it’s that fantastic – it’s a unique spectacle, seeing 70,000 people spend 4 days building up to this very, very short race. A Formula One race is an hour and a half long – this is 90 seconds long, it’s over as quickly as it’s begun but it’s unimaginably exciting at the time and it’s just incredibly visceral. It’s one of those things that everybody should see once in their life.
What are you aspirations for the documentary?First and foremost I think we’ve made a really special documentary. We always wanted to make the definitive Palio documentary - the same approach as Senna. We decided that if we were going to make a film about Senna, let’s ensure that nobody else ever has any need to make another one because basically that was the full stop on that subject. And I think we’ve done the same with the Palio.
We secured the most unbelievable access to the kind of people who run and control the Palio and participate in the Palio – so I think that due to the fact that it is so definitive, we now have bigger expectations and ambitions for the project than [maybe] we did initially. We didn’t know how the story was going to unfold or how the film was going to manifest and now that it has worked out so well we want to connect with as wide an audience as possible.
What makes PALIO stand out from your other projects?What’s great about Palio is that this is really an anatomy of passion, it’s about a city’s absolute love affair with this defining set piece if you like, this race. There are lots of inputs into that passion - whether it’s the people that train the horses, people that own the horses, people that ride the horses, people that watch the horses, the horses themselves. This world of incredible passion is the perfect snapshot of the Italian psyche on so many levels. It’s incredibly aesthetic, it’s incredibly dramatic, it’s incredibly passionate, it’s incredibly beautiful to behold but it’s also incredibly complex and incredibly dysfunctional. And so it feels very different to anything I’ve done before because it’s a much bigger canvas in some ways. It has a socio-economic-political angle to it as opposed to just a sporting angle, so it tells you a lot about the Italian state of mind, which is a pretty interesting thing in itself.
PALIOINTERVIEWS
VALERIO BONELLI / Editor
What does the Palio mean to you?I’m from Tuscany originally so I come from more or less the same area where the Palio is run but I never really knew too much about it because in Italy nobody except the Sienese really knows too much about the Palio. So actually I think the film explains what the Palio is and explains that the Palio is not just a horse race. The Sienese people have this expression, “the Palio is life” – so, in a way, for me, making the film made me understand what the meaning of this phrase is for them. And it’s true, people in Siena live the Palio throughout the year, it’s not just about the day of the race, it’s about how you give to the race, how you prepare it. It’s identity more than anything else for people of Siena. It was incredibly refreshing seeing how much energy and passion goes into it.
What do you hope people will get out of watching the film? I think they’ll get out of the film how crazy Italy is! It’s a crazy country – crazy in terms of how eclectic it is, how different it is, and how stuck in time it is as well. You know Italy’s quite unique almost because traditions get passed on but in most areas they are slowly dying, yet the Palio is a tradition that’s still very much alive – it’s not just a few people putting a costume on and having a race and a parade every year – it actually means something to them. So I hope people will understand that although we live in modern society with internet and the global village, it’s very important to still keep your traditions - in a good way.
What is your favorite aspect of the film?My favorite aspect of the film is the character called ‘Bastiano’, a jockey who is a peasant but owns this beautiful field and, because of it, lives in paradise; he literally lives in the most beautiful place in the world. All those commercials where you see Tuscany with the curvy land and the hills – that’s where he lives, and he won five Palios – he’s just a wise, old man. Almost everything he said to us throughout the summer that we put in the film, it happened. So often we’d say “Oh, lets see what Bastiano says” and we’d go to him and he would just say something that would then turn out to be true. My favorite scene with him is at the end of the first Palio, he meets a young jockey hero and they have this lovely breakfast scene where he says “Oh well done, you won – but in my day...” He’s really saying, “Of course you won because there’s no good jockeys around.” So he’s very, very funny at the same time
PALIOINTERVIEWS
ALEX HEFFES / Composer
So how did you first get involved with this project?I’ve worked with Cosima’s husband Valerio [Bonelli, editor] who edited the film, and I’ve known Cosima [Spender, director] for a while, so we’ve been talking about working together and we finally found the opportunity to do it.
How did your relationship develop?I met Cosima through Valerio and so when we started talking about PALIO, she had an idea of what she wanted to do with it musically. We had lots of dialogue about how we could form the sounds of the Palio and try and create something that has its own language in the film.
There’s a little bit of spaghetti western in there?The thing that struck me when I first saw the race was the medieval pageantry – it’s very timeless, you could be watching it 100 years ago. At the same time, you’ve got the very gritty, dangerous world of the jockeys themselves who are a bit like cowboys. They’re very much staring each other down, so there is that sort of spaghetti cowboy thing living alongside the medieval pageantry of the flags, the people in costume, the horses and the big crowds. So what we’ve tried to do is find a musical language that unites those two worlds.
So there’s a lot of rivalry, dramas…There’s a lot of rivalry and drama – it’s very Italian in that way. I think the unique thing I found about the Palio is that it’s built up all year round, everyone is looking forward to this event and when it finally comes around, it lasts for 90 seconds. It’s the ultimate dramatic build up and that’s very much how the film is – it builds and builds. You’ve got the rivalries of these different people that go way back in time. It is a wonderful palette for music.
So there’s lots of things you can use and draw upon. Is there anything that you particularly enjoyed about this particular project?As I said, it’s a great backdrop and palette for music because it gives you a lot to bounce off. When you write film music you’re always looking for something to react to or something that can spark your imagination, so visually it’s wonderful. It’s hard or impossible to get Palio footage but the filmmakers had this amazing access so visually the race is spectacular in the film. Incredible images are a great starting point for actually writing some music. It’s a very cinematic piece and that’s something that I hope the music will bring a lot more to as well.
PALIOCREDITS
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BYCOSIMA SPENDER
WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BYJOHN HUNT
AN ARCHIMEDIA PRODUCTION
PRODUCED BYJAMES GAY-REES
EDITED BYVALERIO BONELLI
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERFRANCESCO MELZI D’ERIL
CINEMATOGRAPHY BYSTUART BENTLEY
MUSICALEX HEFFES
SOUNDGIANCARLO DELLAPINA
MUSIC SUPERVISORIAN NEIL
CO-EDITORJAMES DEVLIN
IN ASSOCIATION WITHON THE CORNER FILMS
CO-PRODUCED BYMEMO FILMS
Images recorded with the authorization of or provided by theConsorzio Per La Tutela Del Palio di Siena S.c.a.r.l.
Production Manager KATHERINE EVANS
Production Manager (Italy) DANIELE DI BIASI
First Assistant Director FRANCESCA POLIC GRECO
Key Contributors
Jockey GIOVANNI ATZENI
Jockey LUIGI BRUSCHELLI
Jockey SILVANO VIGNI
Jockey ANDREA DEGORTES
Jockey FEDERICO ARRI
Captain of Aquila RENATO ROMEI
Palio Archivist SERGIO PROFETI
Horse Owner GIULIANO BRANDINI
Horse Owner MARK GETTY
Leocorno Vet MASSIMO SPINELLI
Starter BARTOLO AMBROSIONE
Mayor BRUNO VALENTINI
Giovanni's father FRANCO ATZENI
Giovanni's grandfather GIOVANNI ATZENI
Giovanni's mother CRISTINA ATZENI
Giovanni's sister GINA ATZENI
Giovanni’s wife ILARIA BISCONTI
Jockey SEBASTIANO MURTAS
Jockey GIUSEPPE ZEDDE
Tartuca Fans GIULIETTA BASISANDRA BECCARINI CRESCENZI
ANTONELLA CIMBALLICRISTIANA GINANNESCHI
MARZIA SALVATORILUCA SPRUGNOLIVANIA VERMIGLI
Goose Delegation CLAUDIO COCCHIAFEDERICO FANETTI
JACOPO SORDIBERNARDINO VANNI
TV Commentators voices MAURIZIO BIANCHINISUSANNA PETRUNI
SILVANO VIGNI
Focus Puller / 1ST Camera Assistant TRISTAN HALEY
2ND Camera Assistant ROB GILMOUR
Camera Assistant / DIT ADRIAN STEPHENS
GRIP MARCO ALZETTA
GRIP LUCA BADER
GRIP BRUNO KELLER
DIT PHOEBE FRASER
DIT CHRIS NUNN
Boom Operator CECILIA LANZI
Sound Assistant MANUELA PATTI
2 ND UNIT
Cinematographer NICOLAS YURI BEAUGONIN
1st Camera Assistant CLAUDIO PAGLIARANI
2nd Camera Assistant TEO TORRESI
Camera Operator VALERIO EVANGELISTA
FRANCESCO DI GIACOMO
MARCO GRAZIAPLENA
Additional Camera ANTONIO SPANO’
Sound Recordist EMANUELE COSTANTINI
Post Production Supervisor MICHAEL SAXTON
Archive Producer PAUL BELL
Production Manager RAQUEL ALVAREZ
Italian Fixer CHIARA PASCUCCI PEPI
Production Accountant TARN HARPER
Production Accountant TINA ELLIS
Rushes Translator MARIAPIA BRAVO
Production Runner & Unit Driver ANTONIO CELIENTO
Production Assistant GIULIA VIDOTTO
Production Runner ANDREA BANCONE
Camera Runner DANIELE SACCHI
Runner SIMONA DE ANGELIS
Security MILTON RAUL SANTISTEBAN BANDERA
Security EMILY CORTIGIANI
Unit Photographer GUILLAUME BONN
Assistant Editors TOMMASO GALLONE
ELLEN TAYLOR
MARTINA ZAMOLO
For Archimedia
Project DirectorProject Research
Media & MarketingFinance Director
KATHARINE HIRSTWENDI ROSEANNA HART
MIKE SIMPSON
For Memo Films r.s.l.
Production Executive GABRIELE MORATTI
Production Secretary VIVIANA BALLOTTA
Production Accountant SERENA PEIRASSO
Production Lawyer ALESSIO LAZZARESCHI
Legal services JONATHAN BLAIR AND OLIVIA BENNETTAT MICHAEL SIMKINS LLP
Insurance ROYAL & SUNALLIANCE INSURANCE GROUP
Camera Equipment Supplied by ARRI MEDIA
CAMERAWORKS SRL.
PANALIGHT (ROME)
Sound Equipment Supplied by GIANCARLO DELLAPINA
Lighting Equipment Supplied by ARRI MEDIAPANALIGHT SPA
Editing Equipment Supplied by VIVID RENTAL
Post Production Script SAPEX SCRIPTS
Graphics and Titles by MATT CURTIS
Digital Intermediate by DIRTY LOOKS
Colourist JOHN CLAUDE
DI Producer TOM BALKWILL
Online Editor GARETH BISHOP
Assistant DI Producer ANNA ODELL
DI conform JAMES DEVLIN
Re-Recorded at PINEWOOD STUDIOS
Supervising Sound Editor NICK ADAMS
Dialogue Editor JENNIE EVANS AMPS
Sound Fx Editor DANTON TANIMURA
Additional Sound Editor EMANUELE COSTANTINI AMPS
Foley Editor EMMET O’DONNELL
Foley Recordist JULIEN PIRRIE
Foley Artist RHYS JONES
Re-recording Mixer BRENDAN NICHOLSON
Re-recording Mixer ANDREW CALLER
Sound Mix Technician ROLF MARTENS
Sound Mix Technician JOHN SKEEHILL
Visual Effects by ONE OF US
2D Supervisor EMMANUEL PICHEREAU
Compositor JEANETTE MONERO
Digital Artist CRISTINA VOZIAN
Visual Effects Co-Ordinator LEILA NICOTERA
Visual Effects Producer EARLE STUART CALLENDER
Original Music Recorded and Mixed at ABBEY ROADS STUDIOS
Orchestra conducted by ALEX HEFFES
Musicians Contracted by HILARY SKEWES
Orchestrator JOHN ASHTON THOMAS
Orchestral Leader DAVID JURITZ
Music Preparation COLLIN RAE
Guitars JOHN PARRICELLI
JONATHAN MARTIN BERRY
Percussion PAUL CLARVISJOBY BURGESS
Music Editor DANIEL ELMS
Assistant Engineers GORDON DAVIDSONSTEFANOVA CIVETTA
MUSIC
"Il Mercenario (Ripresa)"Written by Ennio Morricone and Nicolai Bruno ©
1968Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd.Taken from the Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack "Il Mercenario"1968 EMI Music Publishing Italia Srl
"Estasi"Written by Ennio Morricone © 1968
Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd./EMI United Partnership Ltd.
Taken from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack "Il Mercenario"
1968 EMI Music Publishing Italia Srl Italia Srl
“Secret Of The Sahara”Music composed, orchestrated and conducted
by Ennio Morricone.Voice - Edda Dell’Orso
(P) 1987, Universal Music Publishing Ricordi spa
“First Dedication”Music composed, orchestrated and conducted
byEnnio Morricone.
Bass-tuba by Carlo Ingrati.(P) 1987, Universal Music Publishing Ricordi spa
“Sholomon”Music composed, orchestrated and conducted
by Ennio Morricone.Bass flute by Paolo Zampini.
(P) 1987, Universal Music Publishing Ricordi spa
“Kerim”Music composed, orchestrated and conducted
byEnnio Morricone.
Violin by Franco Tamponi.(P) 1987, Universal Music Publishing Ricordi spa
Music Publishing Ricordi spa
"Il Mercenario (L'Arena)"Written by Ennio Morricone and Nicolai Bruno ©
1968Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd.Taken from the Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack "Il Mercenario"1968 EMI Music Publishing Italia Srl
Footage courtesy of
CONSORZIO PER LA TUTELA DEL PALIO DI SIENA S.C.A.R.L.
MOVIEMENT HD
RAI TELEVISION
With Special Thanks to
FRANCESCO BOSCHIPAOLO LEONCINI
ERIC FELLNER
PIERGIUSEPPE SERRA
CONSORZIO PER LA TUTELA DEL PALIO DI SIENA S.C.A.R.L.
With Thanks to
RISTORANTE SAN DESIDERIO
JONATAN BARTOLETTI
MICHELE RUGANI
DAVID TANGUY
LAUDOMIA PUCCI
LAURA VALDESI
VIOLA CARIGNANI
