The Chimera
Published: Tuesday, Oct 10th 2023, 10:11
Mise à jour le : Vendredi, 13 octobre 2023, 14:12
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La Chimera is a film directed by Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, which follows a group of tomb robbers in Italy. It premiered at the Zurich Film Festival and is now in cinemas. The film is set in a small Italian town in the 1980s and follows Arthur, a young archaeologist, as he meets old friends and plunders Etruscan tombs to make money. Rohrwacher explores the illegal art trade and tells a story of lost love against this backdrop. The cast is international, with Josh O'Connor in the lead role and Isabella Rosselini and Carol Duarte in supporting roles.
Rohrwacher has said that she has always been fascinated by tomb raiding and illegal art trade, having heard stories about it since she was a child. She researched the topic by speaking to tomb robbers, police officers, archaeologists and museum staff. The film shows multiple facets of the problem, from the robbers who make money from the stolen art to the art collectors who buy it with fake certificates. Rohrwacher also explores questions of how we process the past, what we do with it and our connection to unseen things. The film was shot in three different formats, from amateur 16mm to Super 16mm and 35mm, to reflect the history of the medium. It is an Italian-French-Swiss co-production, with Amka Films from Ticino involved, and some scenes were shot in Switzerland. Rohrwacher also highlights the role of Switzerland in the 1980s as a place to launder illegally obtained art. La Chimera has won the Silver Medallion Award at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado.nn
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