original title:
The Beat Bomb
directed by:
cast:
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Hirschman, Amanda Plummer, Joanna Cassidy, Michele Placido, Tony Lo Bianco, Paolo Fresu
screenplay:
cinematography:
editing:
music:
producer:
production:
39Films, Luce Cinecittà, Romana Audiovisual, Laser Digital Film, supported by Ministero della Cultura
distribution:
country:
Italy/Argentina
year:
2022
film run:
83'
format:
colour
release date:
13/04/2023
festivals & awards:
A journey that began in 2007 with the chance of a meeting between a director and a great poet. It could have ended there, but instead, due to a series of coincidences, a collaboration and friendship was born between the two that continued, between Rome and San Francisco, until the end of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's long life (1919 - 2021). In addition to being the catalyst, the talent scout and the editor of the Beat Generation, Ferlinghetti has pursued his own vision, a rigorous, coherent political and cultural project. This documentary also tries to be an echo of his voice: THE BEAT BOMB, a Beat bomb against "the military industrial complex", that powerful lobby that even President Eisenhower (as a former general) in one of his historic speeches, had tried in vain to counter. In one of his poems Lawrence hopes that with the power of words the poets can be "space reporters" to respond to the challenge of these apocalyptic times.