SILIVA ZULU

Between anthropology and stereotypes, an image of the Zulus through the eyes of an Italian director of the 1920s.

The film, shot in 1927 by the Italian director and explorer Attilio Gatti in Zululand, intertwines anthropological elements and fantasies of witchcraft and betrayal. In a classic western romantic plot of a boy who meets a girl and loses her, the director revisits tribal ideas, engaging actors chosen from among local Zulu members. As a result, the film does not authentically reflect tribal life and culture at the time. However, these are the only films we have of a people and their relationship with Europeans. The troupe also included the well-known anthropologist Lidio Cipriani, who during the making of the film took a series of photos documenting the daily reality of the Zulu peoples of the time.

With the soundtrack performed live by

Bruno Cesselli – one of the best known and most appreciated pianist, composer and arranger in the jazz field. Since 1981 he has carried out an intense concert activity playing with an infinite number of musicians: Art Farmer, Lee Konitz, Kenny Wheleer, Steve Lacy, Mark Egan, Gary Bartz, Ray Mantilla, Enrico Rava, Massimo Urbani … From 1985 to 1988 is part of the Area. He participates in numerous Italian and European festivals: Umbria Jazz, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Vienne, Ljubljana, Rome, Udine, Trieste. In 1995 he is one of the founders of the Zerorchestra, for which he composes and directs the music of many cinema classics. Between 1992 and 1997 he collaborated and recorded permanently with the singer-songwriter Teresa De Sio. He also played and recorded with Fabrizio De Andrè, Alice, Milva, Fiorella Mannoia.