The Challenge

Falconry has a history that stretches back over 40 centuries. In the West it was a prevailing passion of the medieval aristocracy, but its prestige continues undiminished in contemporary Arab culture. Three years of observing this form of hunting have made it possible to capture the spirit of a tradition that allows its practitioners to keep a close rapport with the desert, despite their urban lifestyle. In the glaring light of a landscape in Qatar, following flight lines, the film recounts a strange kind of “desert weekend,” in which technological and anthropological microcosms hang in the air, like the falcon, drifting on the irreversible currents of images.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Yuri Ancarani
Cinematography: Yuri Ancarani
Editing: Yuri Ancarani
Sound: Mirco Mencacci
Music: Lorenzo Senni, Francesco Fantini
Production: Atopic, La Bete, Ring Film
Producers: Christophe Gougeon, Fabrizio Polpettini, Pierre Malachin, Tommaso Bertani
Format: Color
Production Country: France-Italy
Production Year: 2016
Duration: 70
Contact: Slingshot Films festivals@slingshotfilms.it
Awards
Special Jury Award in Filmmakers of Present section – Locarno IFF 2016, Switzerland

Yuri Ancarani

Yuri Ancarani (Ravenna, 1972), is an Italian video artist. His works, which combine elements of documentary cinema and contemporary art, aim to explore aspects that go unnoticed in everyday life. His way of focusing and using the camera with meticulous precision creates his distinct aesthetics, marked by the sculptural depth of the shots and of video works that investigate the hidden elements of daily life and of social codes. His works have been presented in numerous exhibitions and museums in Italy and abroad, including the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin), MAXXI (Rome), the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), and the Guggenheim Museum (New York). In 2016 his feature film The Challenge won the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Festival.

Filmography

2010 Il Capo (short)
2011 Piattaforma Luna (short)
2012 Da Vinci (short)
2013 Ricordi per Moderni (doc)
2014 Séance (short)
2016 The Challenge (doc)
2017 Whipping Zombie (short)
2018 San Vittore (short)
2021 Atlantide