The film is based on a book by the 62nd Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni and tells the story of pianist Luca Flores, who was born in Palermo in 1956 and the age of five moved to Mozambique for eight years. He burst onto the italian nd international jazz scene playing for, among others, Chet Baker and Dave Holland. The pain of a childhood tragedy- Luca’s mother died in a car accident for which he felt responsible – later developed into mental illness. In 1995 after recording his final record, Luca Flores put an end to his intense and painful existence.
Notes and Images
Based on the true story of the jazz pianist Luca Flores, I tried to recreate the past as closely as possible using the Flores family pictures as a guideline. I had many of the 60’s costumes made so that they resembled the ones in the family photos, especially those of little Luca and his sister Baba. I sourced most of the 80’s and 90’s vintage clothing in various cities around Italy. For the scenes where we needed repeats or doubles, I had the vintage pieces replicated using knitwear makers and wonderful seamstresses who did such an excellent job. The film was shot in Rome, Florence and Mombasa. The film begins in the early 60’s in Africa and then moves on to Florence in the 80’s and 90’s.
