SYNOPSIS

Falconry has a history that stretches back over 40 centuries. In the West it was a prevailing passion of the medieval aristocracy, but its prestige continues undiminished in contemporary Arab culture. Three years of observing this form of hunting in the field have made it possible to capture the spirit of a tradition that today allows its practitioners to keep a close rapport with the desert, despite their predominantly urban lifestyle. Our guide to how they cross that threshold is a falconer taking his birds to compete in a tournament in Qatar. In the glaring light of an empty landscape, following flight lines and lures, the film recounts a strange kind of “desert weekend”, in which technological and anthropological microcosms hang in the air, like the falcon, drifting on the irreversible currents of images.

 

SOUND | Mirco Mencacci

SOUNDTRACK | Lorenzo Senni, Francesco Fantini

 
“The Challenge” Original Soundtrack released on Warp Records
Limited Edition 10″ Vinyl + Art Book (500 Copies), Digital WAP404

 

EXHIBITIONS

2016
Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Switzerland

Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Teatrino Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

The Challenge, Isabella Bortolozzi Galerie, Berlin, Germany

2017
Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy

HÄMATLI & PATRIÆ, Museion, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Art Basel Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland

The Challenge, Zero… gallery, Milan, Italy

2018
SCULTURE, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Verbier Art Summit, Verbier, Switzerland

 

FESTIVALS
2016
“Cineasti del Presente”, 69th Locarno Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland

Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers IFF, Skopje, Fyrom

Festival International du Film de La Roche-Sur-Yon, La Roche Sur-Yon, France

VIENNALE, Vienna, Austria

Sevilla European Film Festival, Sevilla, Spain

La Mostra de CineBaix, Barcelona, Spain

IDFA, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Torino Film Festival, Torino, Italy

Mar del Plata IFF, Mar del Plata, Argentina

Festival de Cine de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

Dubai IFF, Dubai, UAE

2017
Lanzarote Film Festival, Lanzarote, Spain

Premiers Plans, Paris, France

IF Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey

Goteborg Film Festival, Goteborg, Sweden

FICUNAM – Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico

Luxembourg City Film festival, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Indielisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

SXSW, Austin, TX, USA

Desert Exhibition of Art, Palm Springs, CA, USA

New Directors/New Films, MoMA Lyncoln Center, New York, USA

True/False Film Fest, Coloumbia, Missouri, USA

Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA, USA

Terra di Cinema, Paris, France

Cinedelphia Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Hot Docs, Toronto, Canada

CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, Denmark

San Francisco International Film Festival, San Francisco, CA, USA

DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver, Canada

Exile Room, Athens, Greece

DOK.fest München, Munich, Germany

Cinema Km Zero, curated by Marco Müller Osteria del Pancotto, Ravenna, Italy

Jeonju International Film Festival, Jeonju City, South Korea

Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland

Beat Film Festival, Moscow, Russia

Hot Docs in Montreal, Phi Centre, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada

FIDADOC Festival International de Agadir, Agadir, Marocco

DOCaviv, the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival, Tel Aviv, Israel

EDOC, Festival Internacional de Cine Documental, Quito, Ecuador

Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, Mammoth Lakes, California

Encounters Documentary Festival, Cape Town and Johannesbourg, South Africa

Oak Cliff Film Festival, Dallas, TX, USA

Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh, UK

Taipei Film Festival, Taiwan

Rooftop Films Summer Festival, New York City, NY, USA

Picturehause Central, London, UK

Festival du film Franco Arabe, Amman, Jordan

Singapore International Festival of the Arts, Singapore

DokuFest, Prizren, Kosovo

Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia

Makedox, Skopje, Fyrom

Pancevo Film Festival, Pancevo, Serbia

Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York City, NY, USA

Bergen Internasjonale Film Festival, Bergen, Norway

PerSo Film Festival, Perugia, Italy

Milwaukee Film Festival, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Astra Film Festival, Sibiu, Romania

Presente Italiano Film Festival, Pistoia, Italy

IsReal Festival del Cinema Reale, Nuoro, Italy

“Carta blanca, Una muestra imprescindible”, DocsMX, Mexico City, Mexico

São Paulo International Film Festival, São Paulo, Brazil

41st North Film Festival, Michigan Tech University, Houghton, Michigan, USA

Virginia Film Festival, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

2018
DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival, Helsinki, Finland

Cinema Km Zero, curated by Marco Müller Osteria del Pancotto, Ravenna, Italy

Kino Sõprus, Tallin, Estonia

Festival of Film and Urbanism, Slavutych, Ukraine

DOCS València​, València​, Spain

 

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

2016
Beursschouwburg, Bruxelles, Belgium

2017
Filmmaker, Arcobaleno Film Center, Milan, Italy

Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France

Acropolis Cinema, Los Angeles, California

CinemaCity Multiplex, Ravenna, Italy

Supercinema Santarcangelo, Santarcangelo di Romagna, Italy

The Texas Theatre, Dallas, Texas, USA

MAXXI, Rome, Italy

Jean Cocteau Cinema, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Parkway Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Osio Cinema, Monterey, CA, USA

Laemmle Theaters, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2018
Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL, USA

Yle TV channel, Finland

École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

 

AWARDS

2016
Special Jury Prize, “Cineasti del Presente” section, 69th Locarno Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland

2017
Jury Prize, “Carta blanca. Una muestra imprescindible” section, DocsMX, Mexico City, Mexico

Special Jury Prize, “Masterpiece” section, PerSo Film Festival 2017, Perugia, Italy

Honorable Mention of the Jury, “Depth of Field” section, 19th DOCaviv, Tel Aviv, Israel

2018
Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Direction, “Cinema Eye Honors”, New York, USA

Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography, “Cinema Eye Honors”, New York, USA

Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score, “Cinema Eye Honors”, New York, USA