“The 90 Year Old Cyclist” by Florent Piovesan
This is a life portrait of my 90 year old grandfather, from his immigration to France from Italy as a teenager and the hardships that came with it, to his role and influence as the eldest brother in a loving and close-knit family.
Cycling has been a major part of his later life, and has contributed to his good health and longevity. And is also a reflection of how I see him as his grandson with his constant energy and unwavering positivity.
In this short documentary we follow him on solo and group rides in the French countryside and we also get a glimpse of his daily life and routine in both intimate and shared moments.
I consider this to be a portrait and tribute to his personality and it is probably my most personal and important project to date.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“This is a life portrait of my grandfather illustrated through his love of cycling.
From his immigration to France from Italy as a teenager and the hardships that came with it, to his role and influence as the eldest brother in a loving and close-knit family.
Cycling has been a major part of his later life, and has contributed to his good health and longevity.
And is also a reflection of how I see him as his grandson with his constant energy and unwavering positivity.
In this short documentary we follow him on solo and group rides in the French countryside and we also get a glimpse of his daily life and routine in both intimate and shared moments.
I consider this to be both a portrait and tribute to his personality and it is probably my most personal and important project to date.
10 years ago I made a short documentary about my grandfather who was 80 at the time and still cycling everyday.
It was my first proper short documentary and of course it was made with limited gear, experience and budget.
Fortunately my grandfather is still with us and very much cycling almost as often as before so I wanted to revisit this idea and create a new documentary for his 90th.
The plan was not to create a copy of the original one of course, but to shoot this with a bigger crew and create a new documentary with a different angle and stronger visual style.
For this one I also wanted to include some of his brothers and friends and give the opportunity for them to express what they feel about my grandfather.
I feel very lucky and privileged to have been able to tell his story.”
-Lars Kemnitz
CREDITS:
Director & editor// Florent Piovesan/ @oftwolands
Talent// Benjamin Piovesan
Cinematographer// Alex Botton /@35still
Car technician & drone// Clement Hodgkinson/ @clementhodgkinson
Animations & illustrations// Amberly Kramhoft/ @madebyams
Made possible by Artlist.io/ @artlist.io & Filmconvert/ @filmconvert
Lenses provided by DZOFILM/ @dzofilm
Lighting kit provided by NanliteB/ @nanlite_global
Filmed over the course of 5 days in July 2023, in the South West of France.
Shot on the BMPCC6K & 6K Pro with DZOFILM Vespid Retros.
(Some scenes on the DJI Inspire 2 and Mavic 3)
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