Production: Associazione Contemporaneità Teatrale
Written, Filmed and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: Gianni Asdrubali
Editing: Andrea Londretti

Trailer: Watch

For the first time, Gianni Asdrubali brings his painting into the theatre. Shamorra, the monumental curtain created for Teatro Cartiere Carrara in Florence, becomes part of the theatre’s Artists’ Curtains collection. The documentary follows the creation of the work, tracing Asdrubali’s creative process from its first stages through to its public unveiling.

Production: Fondazione Sistema Toscana
Written and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Luca Sofri, Gino Castaldo, Ernesto Assante, Maso Notarianni, Cecilia Strada and many friends
Editing: Daniele Drovandi
Cinematography: Edoardo Zucchetti, Simone Cariello
Executive Producer: Tobia Pescia
Premiere: Festival dei Popoli

Trailer: Watch

The eighteenth-century garden commissioned by Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, the Electress Palatine, opens to the public for the first time. A unique example of a formal Italian garden, it still preserves its original appearance, enhanced by a major restoration project.

Documentary produced to mark the public opening of the restored complex.

Production: Associazione Musart
Written and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: Roberto Bolle, Stewart Copeland, Steve Hackett, Vinicio Capossela, Drusilla Foer, Stefano Senardi, Marco Gramigni, Carlo Bertini, Sergio Graziano and others.
Editing: Andrea Londretti

Trailer: TBD

First and foremost, the setting: Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, described by Bruno Zevi as the “prototype of Renaissance urban proportion.” One of Florence’s most iconic squares—with Brunelleschi’s Dome as its backdrop—served for eight years as the stage of the Musart Festival, welcoming artists including Roberto Bolle, Francesco De Gregori, Vinicio Capossela, Franco Battiato, Paolo Conte, Stewart Copeland, Steve Hackett, Yann Tiersen, Chick Corea, Jethro Tull, Baustelle, Caetano Veloso, Nicola Piovani, Stefano Bollani, Fiorella Mannoia, Riccardo Cocciante, David Garrett, Goran Bregović and Madame.

Through interviews with artists, musicians, promoters, artistic directors, institutional representatives and original archival material, Musart Festival – Eight Years in the Square retraces the birth and evolution of a festival that has always combined outstanding musical performances with visits to cultural landmarks—some accessible exclusively during the festival—as well as talks, themed itineraries, screenings, photography exhibitions and local food and wine experiences, creating a continuous dialogue with Florence’s extraordinary artistic heritage and history.

Across its eight editions, the festival developed through the collaboration of the Istituto degli Innocenti, the University of Florence, the Italian Military Geographic Institute, Caritas Diocesana, Sky Arte, the Tuscan Museum Network, the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence and Teatro La Compagnia.

Production: Bendico Srl
In collaboration with: Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera di Roma
With the support of: Credem Euromobiliare Private Banking
Written and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: Plácido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Daniel Oren, Cecilia Gasdia, Raimonda Gaetani, Francesco Giambrone, Luca Salsi, Marco Gandini, Anna Biagiotti and others.
Premiere: Rome Film Festival

Trailer: TBD

Pagliacci di Zeffirelli – A Step into the Future, written and directed by Edoardo Zucchetti, is the first documentary to explore Franco Zeffirelli as a keen observer and interpreter of the contemporary world. Spanning Rome, London, Athens, Florence and Los Angeles, it combines previously unseen footage of the Maestro directing singers, mimes and acrobats with archival photographs, original set designs and first-hand testimonies from the artists and collaborators who worked alongside him, including Plácido Domingo, Cecilia Gasdia, Daniel Oren, Leo Nucci, Luca Salsi, Alessio Vlad, Marco Gandini, Francesco Giambrone and Raimonda Gaetani.

In 1992, General Manager Cresci unexpectedly asked Zeffirelli to stage Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with only a few weeks’ notice. The Maestro accepted on one condition: that every member of the company would embrace what he considered a truly daring creative adventure.

At his side was his longtime collaborator and friend Raimonda Gaetani, whose research took her to Resina, near Naples. Exploring local markets, village celebrations, weddings and everyday life, she collected the colours, characters and atmosphere that would inspire what became Zeffirelli’s most contemporary production—and ultimately the most widely performed staging of Pagliacci, travelling across three continents for more than thirty years.

The documentary retraces this remarkable journey through previously unseen material from the Florence and Rome productions, preparatory works preserved in the Gaetani Archive, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma Archive and the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation.

Conceived from an idea by Raimonda Gaetani, the documentary is produced by Bendico Srl with the support of Credem Euromobiliare Private Banking, in collaboration with the Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and under the patronage of the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation.

Production: Fondazione MUS.E
Written and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: Riccardo Lattuada, Dario Nardella, Giuseppe Scavizzi, Valentina Zucchi
Cinematography: Simone Petracchi, Edoardo Zucchetti
Editing: Simone Petracchi

Trailer: Watch

It was during the 1680s that Luca Giordano transformed the rooms of Palazzo Medici Riccardi, creating two of the most important Baroque fresco cycles, which still shine today and allow visitors to appreciate the extraordinary quality and refined artistry of the Neapolitan master.

Commissioned by Fondazione MUS.E, the documentary tells the story behind the exhibition Luca Giordano. Master of the Baroque in Florence, which brought together around fifty works—including paintings, manuscripts, altarpieces and historical documents—in dialogue with the frescoes Giordano created specifically for Palazzo Medici Riccardi.

Filmed entirely within the exhibition spaces, the documentary features contributions from Riccardo Lattuada, Giuseppe Scavizzi and Valentina Zucchi.

Production: ItalArk
Executive Producer: Michael Spyres
Written, Filmed and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: Michael Spyres
Featuring: Terry Gilliam, Roberto Alagna, Joyce DiDonato, Damiano Micheletto, J. Roddy Walston, Thaddeus Strassberger, Corinne Winters, Lawrence Brownlee, Benedetto Sicca, Leah Hausman, Sean Spyres, Erica Spyres and many more.
Cinematography: Edoardo Zucchetti
Editing: Andrea Londretti

Trailer: Watch

New York, January 2020. Only a few days remain before the premiere of La Damnation de Faust at the Metropolitan Opera, the ultimate stage for any opera singer. Life seems perfect: a home in Manhattan, rehearsals, friends, photo shoots, museums, and walks through a snow-covered Central Park. Michael flies to Houston to replace a colleague, sings the performance, returns… and suddenly loses his voice. His Metropolitan Opera debut is in jeopardy. “This is the crazy life of an opera singer,” he tells me. We can only hope that an aerosol treatment will work a miracle.

A leap back in time takes us to London in 2014, where Terry Gilliam is directing Benvenuto Cellini for the English National Opera. From there begins a ten-year journey through music, theatre and life: Bad Wildbad, Amsterdam, Florence, Versailles, the United States, Pesaro, and the great stages of Salzburg, Paris, Vienna, Aix-en-Provence, Manchester, Berlin and Martina Franca. Along the way Michael becomes a father, his international career continues to soar, and the film gradually becomes the portrait of a man who has turned his work into his life – and his life into his work.

The journey ends where it all began: in London, at Terry Gilliam’s home, before returning one final time to New York to discover whether that aerosol really did save Michael Spyres’ voice for his Metropolitan Opera debut.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

I started filming artists and backstage life while I was still at university. It has always come naturally to me—like buying a newspaper or dreaming. So when Michael Spyres asked me to follow him across Europe and the United States to document his life, I immediately knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Since that afternoon in May 2014, we have travelled together by train, plane, car, motorcycle and even tractor. Given complete creative freedom, I found myself filming in the most unlikely places: in front of an aerosol machine, on a baseball field, in the sewers of Manchester, inside Marie Antoinette’s Versailles, on the Brooklyn Bridge, through the canals of Amsterdam and in the tailoring workshops of the Rossini Opera Festival.

This film tells the story of a man, a singer, a father and an artist who has made his work his life and his life his work.

Spoiler alert: it ends with Terry Gilliam, in his own home, with a shot that I still consider a small miracle to have captured.

Production: Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi
Distribution: ItsArt
Written and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: JR, Arturo Galansino
Cinematography: Simone Petracchi, Edoardo Zucchetti
Editing: Simone Petracchi
Photography: Palazzo Strozzi, Galleria Continua, Marco Borrelli

Trailer: Watch

La Ferita, the monumental installation by French artist JR that became a symbol of the closure of cultural institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic, is the subject of this documentary written and directed by Edoardo Zucchetti.

The film follows the creation of the site-specific installation on the façade of Palazzo Strozzi, exploring the dialogue between art, architecture and public space at a time when museums and cultural venues were still deeply affected by the pandemic.

Production: Orchestra della Toscana
Written and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: Daniele Rustioni and the musicians of the Orchestra della Toscana
Editing: Simone Petracchi
Cinematography: Edoardo Zucchetti

Trailer: Watch

The story linking conductor Daniele Rustioni and the Orchestra della Toscana is extraordinary in the truest sense of the word: a relationship built on trust, passion and a rare artistic partnership.

After first appearing at Florence’s Teatro Verdi at the age of twenty-four as a promising young conductor, Rustioni became first Principal Guest Conductor and later Principal Conductor of the orchestra, remaining in the role for nine years – an unusually long tenure in the world of classical music. At the end of the 2020 lockdown, with his contract expiring and an increasingly busy international career, it seemed that his journey with the orchestra had come to an end. Instead, his appointment as Artistic Director and Conductor Laureate opened a new chapter, making him, at just thirty-seven, the youngest Artistic Director ever appointed by an Italian concert orchestra institution.

Edoardo Zucchetti follows Rustioni for a week during his return to Florence on the eve of the Teatro Verdi’s reopening after lockdown. Beginning with the press conference announcing his new appointment, the documentary traces back through the emotions of returning to the theatre, the joy of making music again, and the deeply human side of the conductor and his relationship with the orchestra.

The story culminates in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica, the concert that marked the reopening of the Teatro Verdi after 103 days of closure. Dedicated to the victims of the pandemic and to everyone who faced those difficult months with courage, the performance stands as a tribute to music, art and beauty as forces capable of giving meaning even in the most challenging times.

Production: Fondazione Sistema Toscana
Written and Directed by: Edoardo Zucchetti
With: Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Luca Sofri, Gino Castaldo, Ernesto Assante, Maso Notarianni, Cecilia Strada and many friends
Editing: Daniele Drovandi
Cinematography: Edoardo Zucchetti, Simone Cariello
Executive Producer: Tobia Pescia
Premiere: Festival dei Popoli

Trailer: Watch

Patti in Florence portrays, through music and words, the special relationship between Patti Smith and the city of Florence, which began with her legendary concert at the Artemio Franchi Stadium on 10 September 1979, attended by 60,000 people.

A cultural bridge connecting the United States and Italy, New York and Tuscany, this relationship was celebrated by Patti Smith herself thirty years later through the project I Was in Florence, comprising performances and improvisations through the city’s streets, museums, theatres and squares.

During her time in Florence, Edoardo Zucchetti followed her movements with an old camera and a handful of film reels, seeking to capture her wanderings and portray the affection shared between the artist and the city.

Initially conceived in 2009, the project was revived in 2015 during the fortieth-anniversary tour of Horses. Through a collaboration with Fondazione Sistema Toscana and extensive research in the archives of the Biblioteca Nazionale, Rai, New Press Photo and Radio Cento Fiori, the film gradually expanded through new footage, memories and personal accounts.

Musicians, journalists, concert promoters, photographers and friends retrace forty years of encounters and collaborations, culminating in Patti Smith’s relationship with Emergency and the Tuscan band Casa del Vento.