News | A SENSORIAL EXPERIENCE

The contemplation, through the lens of the camera, of some of stunning sculptures of a park in Rome is the foundation for this documentary’s plot development, as verbal shortage (there are no words, neither written nor spoken) becomes a surplus of stimuli and sensations. “In some way, this is a film for meditation,” says its Austrian director, Michael Pilz, about Roman Diary, one of the finest films in the new Panorama section “Pagan Visions,” which will be screened today, Sunday, and on Tuesday 17.

69-year-old Michael Pilz has been a crucial figure in Austrian avant-garde cinema for the last four decades and is well-known in the circuit of European festivals for titles such as Slow Summer (produced by John Cook) and his “monumental experimental documentary” Heaven and Earth. A devotee of meditation and a restless traveler (from where he constantly draws inspiration for his works), Pilz is one of the finest directors who bring their art to the 2012 edition of BAFICI.