Presented at the Italians Doc It Better showcase, the new documentary by Elisa Motta and Matteo Ferrarini offers a sensorial and poetic journey through sound, while exploring the power of listening as a path to reconnection.
The presentation was hosted by Rome’s MIA Market (6–10 October), as part of the showcase highlighting the best of Italy’s non-fiction talent in the making. Currently at rough-cut stage, the 70-minute feature is produced by Small Boss, the Parma-based outfit behind docs such as Matteo Ferrarini’s Spring in Mariupol (2023, premiered at Visioni dal Mondo), Elena Rebeca Carini’s The Land You Belong (2023, an Italian-Romanian co-production), Francesco Vecchi’s Who, What and When? (2022, co-produced with France and Belgium), among others.
Described as “a meditative journey through time and space,” OTO celebrates the sense of hearing as a vital force connecting humans to life, nature and memory. Thousands of years of knowledge are interwoven with contemporary experiences, unfolding across diverse landscapes and inner worlds. Its title refers to the Japanese word for “sound,” a clue to the project’s universal yet intimate exploration of how sound can shape perception and understanding.
“OTO is a film that inverts the traditional hierarchy between sound and image, disrupting the usual grammar of documentary,” the creative team tells Business Doc Europe. “It’s a sensorial journey — a sonic and poetic experience where sound leads the narrative and nature is not a setting but a character. In the age of screens and the attention economy, OTO focuses on listening as a way to restore our attention and our connection to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us.”
The project’s approach is deeply rooted in the materiality of sound. The filmmakers collaborated closely with a sound artist, sound designer and sound technician to build a rich 5.1 soundscape, treating sound not merely as accompaniment but as substance. “Since listening is at the core of the film, we wanted to craft an audio experience that can be fully immersive, tactile and emotional,” the team adds.
From a visual standpoint, OTO combines digital and Super 8 footage, using the latter to evoke texture, sensuality and nostalgia. “Sound touches our body and has a huge impact on our emotions, bringing back memories and stimulating imagination,” the team explains. “By working with Super 8 we aimed to mirror that tactile relationship — and to reveal a double side to reality: one visible and one hidden, which only listening can truly uncover.”
Now approaching completion, OTO is seeking investors to finalise post-production, as well as festival partners for its world premiere, international sales, and theatrical distributors.
Founded in Parma, Small Boss has established itself over the past decade as one of Italy’s most dynamic production outfits, with projects backed by Creative Europe, Eurimages, the IDFA Bertha Fund, Sundance Doc Fund and Ibermedia. Its works have screened and won awards at leading festivals and have been broadcast by major networks including RAI, BBC, SVT, Al Jazeera, Globo TV and France Télévisions.
Through OTO, the firm pursues its mission “to tell powerful, unconventional stories that combine artistic vision with social and philosophical depth — inviting audiences to listen, before all else.”
