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"In its meandering, melancholic and lovely portrait of the Campania region of Italy, Lost and Beautiful swims against the current of mainstream cinema." – Senses of Cinema
In the southern Italian province of Caserta, an 18th-century palace has fallen into disrepair, tended to solely by local shepherd Tommaso Cestrone. Working for no pay and little acknowledgement, he is a man of integrity in a region ravaged by organised crime and bureaucratic inertia.
Originally conceived of as a documentary about Cestrone, Lost and Beautiful was only half complete when its subject passed away in 2013. What has emerged instead is something altogether stranger and more magical, lovingly shot on 16mm; director Pietro Marcello (The Mouth of the Wolf, MIFF 2010) shifting his attention between Cestrone and the water buffalo he cared for, leading it on an imaginary journey to its new home.
"Marcello fuses styles to explore Italy's bucolic traditions and fragile but enduring cultural legacies." – Film Comment
