This film is a selection of the backstage filming during the breaks in filming of Quei Loro Incontri, using a small digital camera. It highlights three particular instants: the listening of the sound, the actors’ rehearsals, the choice of the specific shots. But it is the moment following these which becomes the central element, J’écoute!, (Listen!) which breaks the silence of men and nature. That which happened forces me to painfully concentrate on the joyous memory of Peccato nero (1989), the first film by Straub I ever saw in the cinema. It is an image that continuously comes to mind in these days. Danièle is sitting on a mound of earth. She is holding her head in his hands, as if she were delicately holding full amphora, suspended like a just sculpted statue; her gesture is violently angry yet meek. She has the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen, and the ground shakes for her. She is sitting on a volcano. She manages to be both the friend and the custodian of the fire. These days would be terrible without her. I am – almost – convinced.
(Giulio Bursi for the 24th Turin Film Festival)

Giulio Bursi, for years assistant to Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, shows us the set, the preparation of the shots, the actor’s rehearsals, the filmmakers’ close attention to the filming, the shutting of the clapperboard, the search for the right lighting, improvised moments both dead and full of anticipation. A historic documentation of the two filmmakers made with a hand-held camera.