Costanzo Allione

Fried Shoes Cooked Diamonds

Costanzo Allione

Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky

After World War II a group of young writers, outsiders and friends who were disillusioned by the pursuit of the American dream met in New York City. Associated through mutual friendships, these cultural dissidents looked for new ways and means to express themselves. Soon their writings found an audience and the American media took notice, dubbing them the Beat Generation. Members of this group included writers Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg. a trinity that would ultimately influence the works of others during that era, including the "hippie" movement of the '60s. In this 55-minute video narrated by Allen Ginsberg, members of the Beat Generation (including the aforementioned Burroughs, Anne Waldman, Peter Orlovsky, Amiri Baraka, Diane Di Prima, and Timothy Leary) are reunited at Naropa University in Boulder, CO during the late 1970's to share their works and influence a new generation of young American bohemians.

Savoniha: A Siberian "Old Believer"

Costanzo Allione

Savoniha belongs to the “Old Believers,” a sect of the Russian Orthodox Church that was exiled to Buryatia, Siberia, a few centuries ago. Since then, they never ceased to be persecuted. Savoniha, who was 95 years old when this documentary was filmed, witnessed Stalin’s anti-religious campaign, losing her father, one of the main spiritual representatives of the Siberian Old Believers.