The Properties of Metals

Set in an idyllic small village in the Italian mountains in the 1970s, The Properties of Metals follows Pietro (wonderful newcomer Martino Zaccara), a child raised by his surly widowed father (Antonio Buíl, The Inner Cage IFF22). While Pietro spends his days playing with other local children and his younger brother, his father attempts to unburden the family from their debts. 

One day Pietro begins to manifest mysterious gifts – he can bend metal simply with his mind. Soon word spreads beyond their small village, but people are divided in their belief of him. When a university professor starts visiting Pietro to study him, the experiments will lead the child towards an invisible world where the unquestionable laws of physics collide with the deepest human desires. 

Inspired by the 1970s televised performances of Israeli-British illusionist Uri Gellar, who appeared to bend keys and spoons with a single touch, and the phenomenon of Minigellers, children who imitated Gellar’s illusions, this is a poetic feature film debut written and directed by Antonio Bigini, in which hope and belief collide.