Compared to much of Antonioni's other "documentary" footage, these five grabs are nice and short: maybe less than a minute of footage each, and very sweet, especially if you're a naturophile.

Mandorli is exquisite footage of white blossoms in bloom. Vulcano is helicopter shots of a volcano. Stromboli is helicopter shots of some kind of a mountain covered with coal/ash or some such. The piece de resistance, though, which is actually really wonderful - is Carnevale. Antonioni cuts to the same helicopter shot, but this time filming a sea of people. He really thought people were insignificant compared to nature! The italians really know how to do a parade, and it looks beautiful on film. A treat.

The way Antonioni does these "documentaries" is he films natural scenes and screens them with no commentary - so be prepared for that.

You can catch it in the short film program that screens with the Antonioni retrospective that's touring the world: it was at Venice in 2000 and its just been at Sydney in 2004, at the annual film festivals of both. When it comes to a festival near you, i don't recommend it as worth your while. See the features instead, especially Red Desert, Zabriskie Point, La Notte, L'Eclisse, along with the famous ones L'Avventura and Blowup.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

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The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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Noto, mandorli, Vulcano, Stromboli, carnevale

Five shorts of different places and landscapes that combine to correspond to the film's title.

Noto, mandorli, Vulcano, Stromboli, carnevale (1992)

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Noto, mandorli, Vulcano, Stromboli, carnevale

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