see also
original title:
Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road to L.
directed by:
cast:
Robert Purvis, Fausto Sciarappa, Simonetta Solder, Valentina Lodovini, Carlo Lucarelli, Federico Greco, Gianni Sparapan
screenplay:
cinematography:
editing:
set design:
costume design:
Laura Matiz
music:
producer:
production:
world sales:
country:
Italy
year:
2004
film run:
86'
format:
DV - colour
festivals & awards:
1997: A student of folklore named Andrea Roberti hypothesizes the possible link between the horror literature of H.P. Lovecraft and the dark folk tales of the Po Delta, a mysterious and remote part of northern Italy. 2002: One of the directors of the film comes across a manuscript in Montecatini (Italy) which may have belonged to the American writer. This journal, dated 1926, describes travels in Italy through the Po Delta in search of inspiration in the form of local folk stories: the Filò Tales. 2004: A small, tough crew of international filmmakers is put together with the help of David, a New York actor, to make a documentary on the finding of the journal and on the links between Lovecraft and the Po Delta. If the manuscript really did belong to Lovecraft, it would be an extraordinary discovery. As soon as they begin, however, the filmmakers find that Andrea Roberti disappeared in mysterious circumstances many years before, his car found abandoned on the banks of the Po. The crew sets up its base in the town of Loreo - referred to simply as L. in the manuscript - as the author of the journal did. During their investigations the atmosphere of animosity and foreboding rises and they soon discover that strange and disturbing things have been happening in the area. Events that the locals are eager to keep secret. The film "Road to L." is the true account of what took place behind the scenes of the 11 day shoot, reporting how the failures and revelations experienced in L. came to resemble ever more a journey to... Hell. Did Lovecraft really come into contact with something sinister? Did Andrea Roberti stumble across something he wasn't meant to find? The documentary makers are stepping too far into the unknown...