Great news for Italian documentaries. Edoardo Morabito‘s The Outpost (L’avamposto), produced by Dugong Films with Rai Cinema, flies to Toronto to participate in Hot Docs, the most important documentary festival in North America (and the world), scheduled from April 25 to May 5. The film was selected in the prestigious ‘The Changing Face of Europe’ section, a category that every year presents nine documentaries considered of exceptional interest in relating contemporary themes and chosen in collaboration with the European Film Promotion. The only Italian title in the program, already presented as a special event at the Giornate degli Autori in Venice, The Outpost is currently in Italian theaters, accompanied by director Edoardo Morabito, distributed by Luce Cinecittà.

Every year, Hot Docs welcomes a selection of 200 cutting-edge titles, over 200,000 spectators, and a market of prime size. In addition to the screenings within the festival, the director and producers will be meeting a network of North American buyers and festival selectors.

As asserted by Director Edoardo Morabito, “In a country like ours, where documentaries at theaters still struggle to be produced and watched, I am thrilled and reinforced by the fact that after its baptism at the Giornate degli Autori in Venice, The Outpost is now in competition at Hot Docs, one of the most important documentary festivals worldwide. I hope this will bring visibility to the film outside of Italy, too, after the tour that took me from Palermo to Aosta over the last month. I thank Dugong, Rai Cinema, and Luce Cinecittà for making the impossible possible. Such important international recognitions confirm that this courageous adventure was worthwhile. And I hope to be encouraged to make even braver films.”

The Outpost is produced by Dugong Films with Rai Cinema, in association with Intramovies, with Fernando Meirelles’ O2 Pòs Produções and Bidou Pictures.

An adventurous and daring road movie that combines the themes of the climate emergency, the Amazon Forest, and the irresistible Pink Floyd cult, The Outpost was shot in the heart of the Amazon and the frenetic business city of London. The film tells the dream of Christopher Clark in his battle to safeguard the planet. An eco-warrior and an extraordinary Scotsman, Clark has created his very personal Outpost of Progress in the heart of the Amazon Forest: a model of utopian society based on the perfect balance between nature and technology managed and preserved by the inhabitants of the forest. However, 30 years later, the government still refuses to make it a reservation, and a new major wildfire threatens to destroy the outpost. So Chris decides to gamble, opposing the spectacular destruction of the forest with an equally spectacular event: a Pink Floyd concert inside the green hell, in order to convince the Brazilian government to establish a reservation.

This visionary and political film follows the adventures of a 21st-century Fitzcarraldo to disclose the contradictions that animate the protection of the planet. Whether struggling with a video message to send to the Pink Floyd, preparing a cocktail in the heart of the virgin forest, or working to put out a fire, Chris reminds us of the need for utopias to guarantee our survival.