The German military cemetery of the Futa is structured like a labyrinth. Over 30,000 soldiers are buried here. Their names engraved in stone; their presence suspended in the air. The seasons pass, the landscape changes. A place for the dead, but inhabited by the living. The Labyrinth is an investigation—into places, into time, into what lingers in memory. In the woods, body seekers uncover fragments of forgotten men. The caretaker catalogs the bones, patiently, meticulously. A theater company returns year after year, performing Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain among the graves, turning history into ritual. Archival footage, voices from the past, and the writings of Cesare Pavese make memory into something fluid, preserved, continually reshaped. Nothing is final—not war, not mourning, not even death.
Memory, as a collective process, is at risk. Stories from the past are often overlooked or forgotten, and our ability to understand the present is weakened by the lack of a genuine connection to the past. This film is a profound reflection on how collective memory is built, preserved, and simultaneously challenged by the dynamics of contemporary life. In a historical moment where conflict, political division, and social alienation seem to prevail, our responsibility to question memory and the past becomes essential to rediscover the value of peace and unity. The Futa cemetery is a space for reflection and for reconstructing our collective identity. The Labyrinth explores the theme of memory in a European context that remains deeply marked by the scars of the Second World War, as well as by current social and economic challenges. The political and social divisions that cut across Europe and the world, along with the refusal to acknowledge the shared roots of our past, make this film more relevant than ever. The labyrinth does not merely investigate the past—it seeks to uncover new perspectives on the future of memory. It is a work that continues to explore the relationship between place and memory, emphasizing the ongoing need to reflect on our past in order to fully understand our present.
