Tutto quello che hai

For several months Tonino De Bernardi withdrew with a digital video camera and a small crew to the Valle Pellice, a remote valley in the Piemonte Alps where the descendants of the Waldenses live: Protestants who hid there in the distant past because they were persecuted by the Catholic church. Their isolation meant they have been able to maintain their ‘heretical’ views right up to the present day. They lead a life that is characterised by ancient agricultural traditions, that are however now disappearing under pressure from economic change and European regulations.De Bernardi shot a committed documentary about this people of cowherds and simple mountain farmers but also included improvised fictional elements on this location. In the improvisations De Bernardi allowed himself to be inspired by the past of the Waldenses. For instance the film is populated by girls who used to be witches and by young mystics. A certain Eldrado calls on us all over the place to sell all our worldly goods and give the money to the poor. The phrase ‘all that you have’ became the title of the film.During last year’s festival De Bernardi shot the first footage for this film with a camera he borrowed from Jon Jost. These Rotterdam shots have been incorporated in the film in the form of a dream.