L'albero degli zoccoli (The Tree of Wooden Clogs). 1978. Italy. Directed, written and photographed by Ermanno Olmi. With Luigi Ornaghi, Francesca Moriggi, Omar Brignoli. In Italian; English subtitles. 186 min.
The intertwined lives of four peasant families, working for a most unenlightened landowner in the province of Bergamo at the end of the 19th century. Employing non-actors who lived on location – an abandoned farm – for the length of the production, Olmi sought to push beyond Neorealism with a meticulous recreation of the brutal conditions of a still-feudal society, presented with a minimum of dramatic flourishes. The winner of the Palme d'Or of the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, presented here in a digital restoration from the Cineteca di Bologna. Digitally restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory with funding provided by The Film Foundation; courtesy Janus Films. DCP.