Spira Mirabilis

In an abandoned theater, French actress Marina Vlady recites from Borges' "The Immortal"... Japanese research scientist Shin Kubota sings praises to the "immortal jellyfish"... Milan Duomo workers subject the cathedral's exquisite statues to perpetual regeneration... Swiss musician/inventors Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer persistently refine their percussion instrument, the Hang... Native American community leaders Leola One Feather and Moses Brings Plenty preserve the centuries-old spiritual resistance of their tribe... Filmmakers Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti pay tribute to humankind's aspirations for immortality by showing us a portrait of our efforts to overcome our own limits. They share their discoveries in a visual symphony to the power and harmony of nature's elements: water, earth, air and fire. From Milan to Wounded Knee, USA, from Bern to Shirahama, Japan, the traces of the filmmakers' travels spiral into a symbol of perfection and infinity: Spira Mirabilis.

Massimo D'Anol and Martina Parenti have been making lms together for the past decade. They have shared the development, research, writing, production, lming and editing of several acclaimed documentary lms which have been shown worldwide: THE NEVER-ENDING FACTORY OF THE DUOMO (on the eternal work established for Milan's cathedral), DARK MATTER (a look at an Italian industrial military complex), GREAT EXPECTATIONS (portraits of contemporary Italian entrepreneurs), THE CASTLE (four seasons of daily operations at Milan's Malpensa Airport), THE BETROTHED (on Italian attitudes toward marriage).

Born in Pescara, Italy, in 1974, Massimo D'Anol has worked as a videographer, assistant director and scenographer. Born in Milan in 1972, Martina Parenti has worked in TV and cinema as a director of many documentary lms. They founded and make their lms through their production company Montmorency Film.