Pedregal: the story of the Espacio Escultórico
directed by Davide Gambino, 2024
Director’s assistance
Mario Estrada
Director of photography
Michel Hadad
Live sound recordist
Sofía Ruiz
Original music
Gianluca Bartolo and Pino Petraccia
Executive production
Patrizia Boschiero for Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, Davide Gambino for Dada Film
With, in order of appearance:
Pedro Camarena Berruecos, landscape architect
Miguel Medina Jaen, archaeologist
Ana Lillian Martin Del Pozzo, volcanologist
Juan Ignacio del Cueto Ruiz-Funes, architect
María Elena Álvarez-Buylla Roces, environmentalist
Jimena García Álvarez-Buylla, artist
Silke Cram Heydrich, biologist
Louise Noelle Gras, art historian
Hersúa – Manuel Hernández Suárez, sculptor
Sebastián – Enrique Carbajal González, sculptor
Mauricio Rocha Iturbide, architetto
The documentary sets out to give a straightforward account of a complex and many-sided place. A landscape that is at once ancient and contemporary and whose fissured lava rock and sculpted modules of an enigmatic work of art encapsulate an age-old history.
The story of the Pedregal landscape starts with a volcanic eruption in the southern part of the Valley of Mexico around the beginning of the Classic Mesoamerican period. It developed quickly in the second half of the 20th century with the construction of the University City of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (unam), the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games and the creation, in 1979, of the Espacio Escultórico. This, one of the most important examples of public art in Latin America, was the collective work of six artists, and brings to mind both a pre-Hispanic archaeological ruin and a futuristic science fiction construction. Still more recent years saw the creation of an ecological reserve (the repsa, within which the Espacio lies) at the heart of a megalopolis, one of the most fragile and controversial in the world, Mexico City.
Through the contributions of a series of interviewees, the documentary brings the many transformations of this landscape of rock and lava into perspective, and tries to convey the symbolic force of a place whose history invites reflection on important issues and key words of our own times: the value of history, ecosystem equilibrium, ecological awareness, militant commitment and socio-environmental justice.
Today, the Riserva Ecologica del Pedregal de San Ángel epitomises all these intrinsic realities and hands on responsibility for them to future generations, greatly aided by the
symbolic force of the Espacio Escultórico, created within its confines at the express wish of the UNAM: a toothed ring composed of 64 concrete prisms, 120 metres across, which surrounds, protects and resonates to an expanse of lava discharged from the volcano Xitle around 2000 years ago, and to the entire adjacent landscape.
Produced by the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, in collaboration with DADA Film, as one of the activities associated with the International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens 2023-2024, dedicated to the Espacio Escultórico in the Pedregal de San Ángel, Mexico City
Carlo Scarpa Prize Edition
Biographical note on the director
Davide Gambino
Director
Davide Gambino is an Italian film director and producer specialising in documentaries and TV series for the international market.
Having graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, with his first work, Pietra Pesante, he was designated Best Italian Filmmaker 2012 by the New York Film Academy. In 2015 he wrote and directed Il bar del Cassarà, a television series co-produced by Rai Fiction, and also the multi-award-winning The second life. His most recent work as writer, director and producer includes the docuseries Vendetta: guerra nell’antimafia (Vendetta: truth, lies and the Mafia), distributed by Netflix in 192 countries.
Davide Gambino is the founder and executive producer of Dada Film, an audio-visual production company which is active in the international market. Since 2015, he has worked regularly with the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, making the documentary films about the places awarded the International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens.