Il gesto delle mani

This documentary film follows the process of creating one of  Velasco Vitali's famous dog sculptures, from wax to glazed bronze, at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia (Battaglia Artistic Foundry), in Milan. The film observes the work of a group of skilled artisans in this 100-year old foundry and reveals the ancient traditions of bronze sculpture making, unchanged since the sixth century B.C.
“After five years of working with Velasco Vitali and constantly sharing ideas, I decided to shoot some footage in the Foundry and after he loved the initial cuts we decided to create a feature documentary based on capturing the various artistic and scientific processes. I didn’t want to provide narration or any chapter interruption (as production companies would have asked me to): I wanted the story of the ‘birth’ of the bronze dog to pass in front of the spectator as a unique flow, where this process becomes an abstract presence lost in the gestures of the job and in this medieval location.” (Francesco Clerici)

In the presence of Francesco Clerici and Martina De Santis (Co-Scriptwriter)