Renzo Carbonera: Stop and Listen

Stop and Listen
Documentary film by Renzo Carbonera 

Italy / 54 min. / 2010 / English subtitles

Polyphonic Choir of Ruda is one of hundreds of all-male choirs in Italy. Regardless of the fierce competition, it gained musical international hights of recognition and appreciation.

Polyphonic (polyphony) in vocal musical tradition implies singing simultaneously more than two parts, each with a melody of it's own. Choral tradition has deep roots especially in Northern Italy where local choirs are a pride of their communities. A small town of Ruda, with a population of less than 3,000 people, is located in Italy's north-est corner, about 10 km from the border with Slovenia. Their choir underwent a major decline at the turn of the millennia and a solution was sought in finding a new choir director. Unusual and maybe even controversial, the choice fell on Fabiana Nato, a female, who became the choir's director in 2004. This broke with the well established tradition of all-male-choirs being directed by a man.

The film little by little introduces a spectator to the Italian tradition of vocal choir music and to the history of Ruda's choir. It shows the type of men who let their lives to be intertwined with the life of the choir, and their reasons why they join on a purely voluntary bases without any pay. It reveals their true passion for the music they sing, their deep need to express their worldly existence through this artistic activity, and their respect and appreciation for their choir director.

The true focus of the film is Fabiana Noro, the lovely and enigmatic choir's director, the only salaried person, who resurrected the choir from their slumps and brought them to the world's recognition. This slim and elegant lady, who at first appears to be too fragile to manage a 40 men choir, became a driving force in their lives, with her iron will reinforcing their motivation and commitment to achieve perfection. Amazingly, none of the singers can even read a musical score. Their mastery is all based only on their auditory and vocal skills that they continuously train and perfect.

The film shows the problems with finding funds and the appropriate repertoire that would attract audiences. Fabiana is searching for new songs for their program, new musical challenges. Not all her venues are fruitful. Luckily, she avoids disasters that brake many creators when they try to catch the "in" styles and forms, or try to appear advanced and innovative, which could lead to their art becoming quite banal, regardless of the public's initial interest.

It is only after a conversion with a choir member that Fabiana realizes what her choir is all about, how it has to be based on what comes deep from the choir members themselves, from inside their beings, what resonates with their hearts and souls, since they are the ones who are the true instruments of their art. With that insight, Fabiana is finally able to navigate her choir to their highest successes and achievements.  

This is an inspiring film to see. It raises questions of what is true artistic authenticity, what makes true art, how to gain audiences' attention and appreciation by simply honouring and being your true self.

This documentary served as an inspiration for Renzo Carbonera to create his first full length feature film RESINA (2017), which was shown at the Montreal World Film Festival 2017 in the category FIRST FEATURE FILM. You can read more about it here.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director: Renzo Carbonera

Story Line: Gino Pennacchi, Dino Gentili, Renzo Carbonera

Participants: Fabiana Noro, Adriano Bon, Pierpaolo Gratton, Anedi Sdrigotti, Gianni Casatto

Photography: Luca Coassin

Editing: Alessandro Sabbioni ed Ennio Guerrat

Sound: Francesco Morosini

Music: Coro Polifonico di Ruda

Production: Tico Film (Sarah Pennacchi, Gino Pennacchi)

International sales: Poorhouse International ltd (Dr Moritz Reiner)

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