THE BOOK OF VISION by Carlo S. Hintermann
Italy, United Kingdom, Belgium, 2020, 95’
Eva, a promising young doctor, leaves her brilliant career to study History of Medicine in a remote university. Now is the time for her to call everything into question: her nature, her body, her illness, and her sealed fate. Johan Anmuth is an 18th-century Prussian physician in perpetual conflict between the rise of rationalism and ancient forms of animism. The Book of Vision is a manuscript that sweeps these two existences up, blending them into a never-ending vortex. Far from a proper scientific text, the book contains the hopes, fears, and dreams of more than 1800 patients. Dr. Anmuth truly knew how to listen to his patients, whose spirits still wander through the pages, life and death, merging in a continuous flow. The story of Anmuth and his patients inspire Eva to live her life to the fullest. Nothing expires in its time. Only what you desire is real, not merely what happens.
Carlo S. Hintermann is an Italian-Swiss filmmaker and producer. After studying classical percussion and graduating with a degree in Film History in Italy, he went to study film directing in the US helming several shorts while working as second unit director and coordinator. Together with Luciano Barcaroli, Gerardo Panichi and Daniele Villa, he embarked on his documentary filmmaker career with Rosy-fingered Dawn: A Film on Terrence Malick (Venice Film Festival, 2002). He followed up with Chatzer: Inside Jewish Venice (Turin Film Festival, 2004) and The Dark Side of the Sun (Rome International Film Festival, Extra - Jury Special Mention prize Enel Cuore, 2011) which incorporated animation and live-action. He also directed the animated short H2O (Annecy Animated Film Festival, 2007). He produced and directed the Italian Unit of Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, 2011) further reinforcing his collaboration with Malick.
In 2013, he directed a TV spot for Rare Disease Day in collaboration with Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics. He then went on to direct the one for the 2015 campaign collaborating with the animation studio Moonchausen. His fantasy film The Book of Vision was executive produced by Terrence Malick and opened Venice Film Critics Week at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The film went on to compete in numerous festivals, including Sitges, Pingyao, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma - Montreal, and Warsaw Film Festival (opening movie).
As a producer with his associate Gerardo Panichi, he has co-produced several films, documentaries and shorts such as Tsili by Amos Gitai (Venice Film Festival, 2014), Rabin: The Last Day by Amos Gitai (Venice Film Festival, 2015), Mountain by Amir Naderi (Venice Film Festival - Glory to the Filmmaker Award, 2016), Dal Ritorno by Giovanni Cioni, and Rhinoceros by Kevin Jerome Everson. Hintermann is also a musician, composer, and film critic. With Luciano Barcaroli and Daniele Villa, he wrote and edited several books on film: Addio terraferma: Ioseliani secondo Ioseliani, (Ubulibri, 1999); Una storia vera - The Straight Story (Ubulibri, 2000); Il cinema nero di Takeshi Kitano: Sonatine - Hana-Bi – Brother, (Ubulibri, 2001(; Scorsese secondo Scorsese, (Ubulibri,2003), and Terrence Malick: Rehearsing the Unexpected, (Faber & Faber, 2015).
