One year after Franco Battiato’s death, Rai Documentari dedicates a prime time to him with “The courage to be Franco” broadcast on May 18, at 9.20 pm on Rai 1. Written and directed by Angelo Bozzolini and produced by Aut Aut Production in collaboration with Rai Documentari, the film traces the life and career of one of the most revolutionary authors of Italian music, a pioneer of new musical worlds. With the narrative voice of Alessandro Preziosi, the documentary also tries to return an intimate portrait of the artist, thanks to the story of his niece Cristina Battiato and the unpublished material from the photographic archives of the family, Rai, the Cineteca di Bologna, Universal Music, as well as the exclusive filming in the houses of Milan and Milo in Sicily, as well as in the places of spirituality so deeply dear to Battiato. Among the unpublished documents, the autograph texts from 1966 and the exclusive photos of her first duo with Gregorio Alicata, “Gli ambulanti”, together with a song never heard before. No one like Battiato has managed to undermine the rules of the game in so many areas, from music, cinema and television, but also mystical and spiritual, voting his creativity to awaken the public’s conscience. Even today we talk about the “genius of Battiato”, as the one who redesigned the concept of pop music in Italy. Never before had it been possible to climb the rankings by telling stories according to a new grammar, inspired by content outside the mainstream and the continuous search for a sacred dimension of art. From the beginning of his career to the encounter with the electronic music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, from the first album “Fetus” (1972), up to “La Voce del Padrone” (1981), the best-selling album in Italy. In addition to timeless successes such as “The era of the white boar”, “La Cura”, “Permanent center of gravity”, “Cuccurucucù”. Battiato lived many lives, he said of himself that he was never born and therefore never died. And perhaps for this reason he has managed in every decade of his life to give us a new character. His music is also a journey through our country: from post-war Sicily, still full of Christian values, to Milan in the 60s and the economic boom, up to the meeting with oriental philosophies and Buddhism. The documentary is enriched by the testimonies of artists and personalities who have contributed most to Battiato’s success, each representative of an artistic world on which he has expressed himself: among others, Alice, Luca Madonia, Sonia Bergamasco, Willem Dafoe, Antonio Scurati, Giovanni Caccamo, Vittorio Sgarbi, Marco Travaglio. And Morgan, who previews “Battiato breaks my heart”, the song composed on the occasion of Battiato’s illness. “I don’t want to command and I don’t want to be commanded”: this is one of the mottos that represents the essence of Franco Battiato, the his constant inner research and the desire to affirm his innovative concept of music in the name of contamination.It is impossible to catalog it or insert it in any genre, precisely because of the ease with which it was able to range from rock to pop, from electronics to opera. In fact, it is no coincidence that music has been his life companion. human and artistic journey of the late Franco Battiato” – declares Fabrizio Zappi, director of Rai Documentari. “The docufilm is enriched by the participation of the actor Alessandro Preziosi who tells , comments and accompanies the viewer on a journey that is never banal and full of emotions, sounds, colors and reflections”.
Rai Documentari presents ”The courage to be Franco”