Always on and off trains, and always ready to change cities when cultural and political curiosity took him elsewhere: from his native Gubbio to Palermo, Turin, Milan, Naples, Rome, with a long interlude in Paris in an attic in the Latin Quarter.
Each of his numerous moves from one city to another opens and closes a phase of his thought and action in the world, which unfolds, at times contradictorily, from his childhood in Gubbio to his experiences in Sicily alongside Danilo Dolci, from his political activity in working-class Turin in the 60s to his work creating social networks in Naples, from his collaboration with the magazine Quaderni Piacentini to his current editorship of the monthly Gli Asini.
In the film, Goffredo Fofi's need to travel, from time to time, wherever he feels it is most appropriate to carry out effective political and cultural work is intertwined with the memories of the people he met throughout his life, such as Elsa Morante, Carmelo Bene, Danilo Dolci, Aldo Capitini, Totò, Luis Bunuel, Ada Gobetti, Raniero Panzieri, Pasolini, Fellini and many others.
People with whom “it was nice to argue” but with whom, in some cases, it was equally nice to reconcile.
And then '68, the extra-parliamentary groups, the ideological excesses, the discovery of new writers and directors, social work as politics' last resort.
From the profile of a heretical intellectual and an extraordinary cultural organizer emerges a strongly critical vision of Italian society, its mechanisms of power, and the injustices that mark it.
Goffredo Fofi is often cutting towards men of culture who are unwilling or no longer able to counteract a progressive process of standardization with a critical perspective and language that puts a lively striving for social justice and freedom back at the center of thought.
A life full of contrasting stories and extraordinary encounters, animated by a deep-rooted and profound pacifist orientation and a thought always aimed at changing social and cultural reality: provided that it transforms into facts, life practices, otherwise it matters nothing.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES
Goffredo Fofi's personal, cultural, and political story has always been fueled by contradictions, heated debates, and significant rethinking, all underpinned by a never-ending pedagogical vocation. Therefore, a film that tells his story could be anything but celebratory; the character doesn't allow it. The film, consistent with this premise, doesn't shy away from cultural conflict and contradiction; rather, it draws from them part of its vitality, which is well represented by the constant changes of scenery that Fofi's life offers. This hopping on and off trains across Italy, the choice to frequently change cities to experience new realities firsthand, tell us of a life in which intellectual and existential adventures are inseparable; they mutually nourish each other. Precisely by following these suggestions, the film tells a wholly original Italian story, constructed through free associations, metaphorical, and evocative images.
Do we still have the capacity and courage to desire a future beyond the universe of consumption and escapism, to imagine other possible worlds? Is there anything beyond the Market and its logic?
What can be done in a society that seems to have forgotten the value of coexistence and has become embittered, resentful, xenophobic, fearful, aggressive, and conformist? There is no single answer to these questions, which Goffredo Fofi asks first and foremost of himself, now with a certain tinge of pessimism.
These are questions, however, that cannot be ignored because they allow us to maintain a critical and open view of the world, leading us to the work that is always necessary to keep alive the prospect of a better world, regardless of outcomes and results. Soles of Wind – Stories by Goffredo Fofi is the result of a long conversation with Goffredo and a careful selection and editing of archive images, with a particular focus on images and illustrations created by leading Italian illustrators, a direction Fofi has never stopped pursuing, helping, in this as in many other cultural fields, the finest talents to develop.
The mosaic of various images that compose the story seeks to capture this lively and provocative thought and at the same time depicts a particular Italian history, a history that extends from the post-war period to the present day, following the order of time but also the flow of thought and the emergence of memories, emotions, affections, conflicts, and controversies.
With the hope that the film will also prompt us to question ourselves and our way of looking at and experiencing the world, whose fate also depends on us.
