Songwriter Fabrizio De’ Andre titled an album tributing Edgar Lee Masters “Non al denaro, non all’amore, né al cielo” (Not to money, not to love, nor to the sky). This film re-echoes that poetry in a contemporary key. “Not to money, not to the wind, nor to the sun” explores a very delicate and unspoken mater: wind turbines.

Producer and actor Manfredi Saavedra, having this matter very much at heart, felt the urge to divulge it through the storytelling of a delicate short-film, starring Italian re-known actor Massimo Ghini, besides other talented young performers such as Matteo Pianezzi, Graziella Marina, Stefano Sobelli, Luca Di Pilla, Zi’ Luard and Luca Scapparone.

The director, Marco Calvise, transposes the tales Manfredi’s grandmother told him when he was a child into a modern fable. When an old faded land owner from Molise, Don Peppe, dies, his son Nicola and his grand-son Giuseppe are contacted by a company that deals with installing wind-power systems for renewable energy. They head off together on a journey that leads them back to their origins. During their stay in Molise, Nicola and Giuseppe, will unexpectedly feel a strong connection with their family heritage as well as with the friendly and welcoming territory. Father and son will face a flabbergasting actuality: the dishonest management that lies behind the business of renewable energy. Non al denaro, non al vento, né al sole is a profound reflection on life, on the relationship between father and son, our roots, and a consciousness raising on the Italian way of dealing with resources.

Money makes the world go round and a worn-out mechanism of sale and rental of territories, prevails on the actual mission of improving nature’s safeguard. Yet again as Manfredi Saavedra reminds us, there are values that shouldn’t be traded not to money, not to the wind, nor to the sun.

by Chiara Spagnoli