Moving between Venice, the Pacific and Switzerland, the film seeks the origins of Pratt’s way of seeing, tracing the connections between the places he travelled through and those he imagined. Knuchel has gathered and restored scattered materials, explored archives and followed clues across several countries, creating a narrative in which meticulous research leaves room for the mystery running through Pratt’s stories. The film’s official page.

“I didn’t want to make a biography, but to seek the origins of his way of seeing,” Knuchel explains, following a life in which it is sometimes difficult to tell where a memory ends and a story begins. Indeed, a question also emerges in the film’s synopsis: what if Pratt’s life had been a dream of Corto Maltese’s? The film and the director’s statement on La Biennale’s website.

Pratt himself also tells his story, through recordings of his conversations with biographer Dominique Petitfaux. His voice intertwines with photographs, archive materials and previously unpublished documents, alongside contributions from Patrizia Zanotti, Dominique Petitfaux, Thierry Thomas and Marco Steiner. The title pays tribute to the book that grew out of those conversations, Il desiderio di essere inutile, and to an idea of freedom that gives imagination and the unexpected all the room they need.

Ahead of the centenary of Pratt’s birth in 2027, La Biennale di Venezia, together with the International Critics’ Week and the Giornate degli Autori, presents the film in a special out-of-competition screening. The tribute to Hugo Pratt.