Lungo il futuro del Po
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A journalist and a filmmaker embark on a bike ride along the River Po, keen to understand how climate change and human intervention are influencing its destiny. The upshot is the story of a watercourse characterized by more and more periods of flooding and drying, by faulty maintenance work, by scarce cooperation between the bodies involved and by abandonment by the state, which fails to perceive its real value. Through the voices of the people who live on its banks, for whom it represents a raison d’être and a livelihood, we discover the desolation of a forgotten territory that is nonetheless confident it can count on innumerable resources to protect itself.
«The aim was to travel the length of the Po to speak about the river through the lens of climate change. Over the last few years, Italy’s longest river has suffered from scarce summer rainfall and barely filled up in winter. In the summer of 2017, the fact that its source was dry attracted a large amount of media attention. For the first time since historical records exist, there wasn’t a trickle of water under the stone that bears the words “Qui nasce il Po” (This is where the Po is born). I went up to observe the phenomenon personally and I have to say it left me vaguely uneasy. Maybe it was there that I came up with the idea of travelling the length of the river to find out more. To transcend my memories of autumn as a child, when the river flooded the house I grew up in every time it rained».
(Gian Luca Gasca)
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