MR. BEAU
Italy, Germany 2024
83 minutes
directed by: Claudia Tosi
Claudia Tosi shared her brilliant, engaging film "I Had a Dream" with the viewers of Magnificent Seven 2019, but at the same time she herself was inspired by the great Hedy Honigman's film "Buddy". So, from this festival she brought a new dream to Italy, a dream about an unusual journey, about discovering the ways to reach someone you love and who loves you unconditionally.
This is an unusual and unexpected story about the friendship between a golden retriever named Beau and his human friend Claudia. Claudia wonders if the tacitly acknowledged fact that a dog has to adapt to a human it lives with is actually an unfair misconception. She decides to ask herself questions - who is my dog, what does he want, what is his nature? In a moment of concern for Beau's life, Claudia decides to do everything in her power to learn how to communicate better with him and how to understand his character, his personality and his needs. Together, they embark on a journey to achieve this goal through a series of different adventures - scientific experiments, various experiences in nature, meeting with dog trainers and practicing exciting "dog sports". The extremely intertwined flows of the film gradually build an intense feeling of empathy with the main character. Through this unusual, uncertain, revealing process, with the camera as an accomplice to the events, Claudia gets to know Beau more and more, leading both herself and us viewers to more complex questions about the place of man in the animal world and the importance of replacing the desire to dominate with the need for understanding. Claudia Tosi, the author of the film, testifies about her experience as the protagonist - she reveals that our pets give us the ability to rediscover the child in us, perhaps the best and most harmless part of our nature.
A magnificently playful modern documentary introduces us to a game in which, the more we enjoy and have fun, the more we discover surprisingly deep and ennobling knowledge about the world and ourselves.
Born in Modena, Italy, in 1970. She has held a BA in Philosophy at the University of Bologna and a MA in Philosophy at the University of Turin. She has worked as a creative documentary filmmaker since 2003. In 2004, she has co-founded Movimenta, a production company focused on the production and the international co-production of narrative documentaries. She has attended Eurodoc, EWA’s workshops and others as a mentor on writing documentaries.
