LIFE IS DEADLY

VIVERE CHE RISCHIO

By Michele MELLARA, Alessandro ROSSI

MAMMUT FILM - as PROD

Biography - Completed 2019

Cesare Maltoni was one of the pioneers of preventive cancer research in Italy and around the world. He was also one of the inventors of the idea of hospice. The documentary reconstructs the life and career of this modern man of science and free thinking

Festivals
& Awards

Biografilm Festival 2019
Audience Award
SiciliAmbiente Festival 2019
AAMOD Award
Festival Cinema del Reale 2019
    • Year of production
    • 2019
    • Genres
    • Biography, Documentary
    • Countries
    • ITALY
    • Languages
    • ITALIAN, ENGLISH
    • Budget
    • 0 - 0.3 M$
    • Duration
    • 83 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Michele MELLARA, Alessandro ROSSI
    • Producer(s)
    • Ilaria MALAGUTTI (MAMMUT FILM)
    • Synopsis
    • Where to start by making a cinematic portrait of Cesare Maltoni? His eclectic and multifaceted figure seems to require to be told from multiple perspectives. There is a geographical Maltoni - profoundly romagnolo - who combines the calm movements of the plain with those rapid and dynamic movements of the man of the world, the traveller. There is also the Maltoni scientist, the best known, international point of reference in the field of research on environmental carcinogenesis and cancer prevention. And here immediately appears the political Maltoni who uses research data to fight battles for the public good and the health of all. Then there is the Maltoni creator of spaces to devote to scientific research, health, prevention and care of people (he is connected to great works such as the Ramazzini Institute, the outpatient prevention centers, high-tech laboratories, archives, hospice). And finally, the almost franciscan Maltoni in showing a strong, always unchanged sensitivity to the pain of those who suffer. Maltoni is essentially a great Renaissance man, so much so that he explicitly refers to the epidemiological studies of Bernardino Ramazzini, to the tradition of knowledge based on empirical knowledge: "Prevention is better than cure". The documentary film bases its narration on this heroic versatility of the protagonist, heroic essentially for three reasons: because he is profoundly human (even in his traits of weakness), because outside the box, and because it is characteristic of heroes to obtain results unattainable to others. The figure of the scientist is striking for his volitional character, his competence, his humanity, and for the legacy of value that he gives us. A space for action that is not closed but which, on the contrary, opens up wide spaces for reflection on all the themes that concern practice and scientific research, the study of the prevention of deadly diseases, the very idea of public health and the protection of people. An inheritance to be collected and told.