Dating back 40 centuries, falconry is among the world’s oldest sports. Today it’s one of the more luxurious activities of rich sheikhs, who accompany their hawks by SUV or private jet. Purchased at auction for thousands of dollars, the falcons are led by their owners through artificial predation competitions. The film follows a falconer across the Arabian Gulf to an important competition, and explores the excesses of young Arab sheikhs who can afford to gold-plate their engines, drive around in luxury cars followed by trained leopards and take part in wild car races in the dust of the desert of Qatar. The Challenge, artist Yuri Ancarani’s first feature film, is like an incessant breath, full of long shots and fast-motion POV shots recorded by cameras on the hawks’ heads. The film, whose original soundtrack The Fades was composed by Lorenzo Senni and Francesco Fantini, gives space to the preparatory rites of falconers immortalized in amazing images of the unbounded desert, whose vast horizons and rocky hills stand out in intense ochre.

 

 

Born in 1972 in Ravenna, he lives and works in his hometown and Milan. His works originate from a continuous mingling of cinema, documentary and contemporary art. His art works have shown in many well known international exhibitions and museums. Among his solo shows we can mention CAC, film screening, Centre d'Art Contemporaine, Geneva and Ricordi per moderni, Museo Marino Marini, Florence - both in 2012. The two short films Il Capo and Piattaforma Luna were screened in more than 150 national and international exhibitions. Among the group exhibitions he participated in are the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Puisqu'on vous dit que c'est possible, Saline Royale d'Arc et Senans (2014); Prego signori si accomodino, Studio House Scatturin - Carlo Scarpa, Venice (2015). He has appeared in numerous festivals and received prizes and awards at festivals such as the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival and the New Orizon I.F.F. at Wroclow, and the very last award he won was at last Locarno Film Festival.