"Shot from a respectful distance in near-total darkness, and with the ambient sounds of the forest serving as soundtrack, the doc forces us to adjust our eyes in order to see the shapes emerging from the blackness onscreen; and to witness a nocturnal existence in which time is suspended, the hushed tedium punctuated only by distant gunshots. In other words, to look and listen differently."
"Waking Hours is the auspicious, Venice-premiering feature debut of cinematic collaborators Federico Cammarata and Filippo Foscarini, graduates of the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Palermo. With Cammarata handling camerawork, Foscarini on sound, the duo have been working as a two-man team since their 2020 award-winning, mid-length doc Tardo Agosto. And their less-is-more approach shows (and then some). The film stems from the simplest of premises: a group of Afghan smugglers who've set up camp along the border between Serbia, Croatia and Hungary."
Federico Cammarata and Filippo Foscarini, graduates of the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Palermo, made Waking Hours as their Venice-premiering feature debut. The film follows a group of Afghan smugglers camped along the Serbia–Croatia–Hungary border who spend nights smoking, talking by a single fire, and arranging operations by phone. Cinematography in near-total darkness and a sound-driven approach foreground ambient forest noise and distant gunfire, forcing viewers to reorient sight and listen closely. The directors established access through a regional NGO and filmed respectfully from a distance, emphasizing poetic observation over accusation.
Read at Filmmaker Magazine
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