After the first two cycles of events held in 2024, also in 2025 the biennial program promoted by GAMeC will actively involve the communities of the provincial territory thanks to the participation of international artists.
On the occasion of the third cycle of the program, during a tour through the valleys of Bergamo, the film works produced by GAMeC and directed by Michela de Mattei and Invernomuto, Agnese Galiotto, and Giulio Squillacciotti will be presented, along with the exhibition project Fossi io teco; e perderci nel verde by curator Greta Martina, winner of the twelfth edition of the Premio Lorenzo Bonaldi per l’Arte – EnterPrize.
MICHELA DE MATTEI AND INVERNOMUTO
PARAFLU
Michela de Mattei and Invernomuto’s film project, created for the Thinking Like a Mountain program and produced by GAMeC, ventures through the landscapes of the Lombardy Alps to explore the return of the wolf to the valleys of Bergamo, analyzing the figure of this predator as a symbol of conflict, marvel, and transformation, while at the same time problematizing the coexistence between human beings and the wilderness.
Paraflu alludes to the tales of the philosopher and naturalist Baptiste Morizot, in which he describes the animal as possessing the magical art of misdirection. The result is a layered work, where images, optical illusions, and fragmented narrative editing create a disorienting universe, in which spectators are invited to address their own imagination.
Disorientation emerges in the film, in a territory where collective fears and cultural and human dynamics clash with those of nature, just as violently. The very title of the film harks back to a real-life episode: an act of revenge against a pack of wolves, poisoned with car radiator antifreeze (“Paraflu”).
Suspended between documentary and abstract representation, Paraflu reveals at the same time a fascination with the wolf, a desire to understand its habits and behavior, to map specimens and packs through the technique of “wolf howling,” setting photo-traps and other means to testify as much to an aspect of scientific research as to the human attempt to control and cohabitate with the wild.
Shot on 16 mm film to provide a physical and timeless aesthetic, the film combines real elements with AI-generated effects to amplify the sense of tension and narrative ambiguity. The narration is accompanied by a voiceover that, with a documentary tone, describes magic techniques, analyzing the relationship between the spectator and the conjurer. The result is a layered experience that deliberately misleads and confuses, creating a plot that continually defies linearity and expectations.
Paraflu, together with MUT by Giulio Squillacciotti, and Migratori by Agnese Galiotto, will be presented as part of a tour—held in collaboration with Lab 80 film—which will travel around the Bergamo valleys from February to May 2025, accompanied by a series of workshops, meetings, and events for adults and families alike.
Screening Calendar:
February 23 / Branzi, Val Brembana
MUT by Giulio Squillacciotti
March 15 / Gorno, Val del Riso
Screening of all three films
April 5 / Vedeseta, Val Taleggio
Screening of all three films
May 11 / Averara, Val Brembana
Migratori by Agnese Galiotto
May 18 / Gromo, Val Seriana
Paraflu by Michela de Mattei & Invernomuto
Throughout the third cycle of Thinking Like a Mountain, the spaces of GAMeC will host a series of conversations with artists Michela de Mattei and Invernomuto, as well as Agnese Galiotto and Giulio Squillacciotti. Conceived as an open dialogue between disciplines, these meetings will also feature speakers from a range of fields: from design to illusionism to ornithology. The intent is to explore how seemingly distant languages may come together in a common reflection on the relationship between human beings and other living species.
The calendar of events will soon be made available from gamec.it.