In the Sanità neighborhood of Naples, there is a church that remained closed for almost thirty years until one day in 2020, when it was restored and reopened by a young sculptor who chose Naples as his workplace.
This young sculptor is named Jago and is already known worldwide, with a large following on social media where many refer to him as the new Michelangelo. He has decided to tackle an iconic subject of the great Tuscan artist: the Pietà.
It's a task he will face alone—just him and the marble. No assistants. No help. From start to finish, it will be only him and that immense ancient block of stone, to be shaped and reduced to the form he envisions.
This documentary covers a year and a half in the life and work of this artist, a young man just over thirty who has decided to reconcile two seemingly contrasting aspects: the monastic precision of the artist, who needs solitude to create, and the feverish enthusiasm of an entrepreneur, who must dedicate a significant part of his life to meetings, conferences, handshakes, and travel to expand.
Entering his life means entering a whirlwind, a dimension of profound contrasts. Silence on one side to become the artist everyone knows. Noise and confusion on the other to be the communicator everyone knows.
As we witness the dance around the statue, guided by music, a series of voices in the background speak about him, Jago, describing him as a friend, partner, artist, and entrepreneur. A concert of definitions that eventually merges into a single sound blending with the music. The marble dust rising from the statue thickens in the air, creating a whitish patina that separates us (the viewers) from him (the worker). And on that white surface appears the title: Jago, into the white.

Director's notes

Through this film, I aim to showcase Jago's level of self-awareness as an artist. Despite the romanticized image of the tormented and uncommunicative artist, the initial impression from spending time with Jago is that he is a person aware that everything revolves around energy. Life and art don't necessarily have to travel separately, and art is not just a testament to who we are but primarily an image of what we can become.
What intrigued me the most was the almost agonistic relationship Jago has with the marble. The church at a certain point became a ring, with marble as his adversary. He was there, alone, shot after shot, trying to overcome his challenge.
The journey to create the statue becomes more important than the work itself. The revisited Pietà wouldn't make sense if we hadn't witnessed the sweat, the effort, the moments of exhilaration, and the days of discouragement with our own eyes. The beauty that the audience sees in the end is comparable to the light that reaches us after the explosion of a star. I wanted to document the moment before, when the star was alive, pulsating with possibilities and fears, desires, and hesitations.
Jago into the White narrates the relationship of a man with his own talent.