This documentary is about 2 brothers — the Taviani brothers — who are famous for having made many award-winning Italian movies. The short clips from their films will surely entice us to see the complete movies in the original Italian. Perhaps the most famous one is La Notte di San Lorenzo from 1982, whose English language release had the title: The Night of the Shooting Stars.

The Taviani brothers lived through the war, so they had a good feel for the terror people felt. But as kids they were also very much affected by the movies offered at the time.

The Taviani brothers talk about how, as young movie lovers, they would grab their bikes and go to whatever movie theater in the area was showing their favorite films. Then they had to go to the big city, Rome, to pitch their first documentary. They learned a valuable lesson.

San Miniato is where the Taviani brothers were born, but it was also the birthplace of their careers in filmmaking. Their first was a documentary and right away they had some problems with censorship.

Actor Giulio Brogi talks about how his role in The Subversives mirrored his character at the time. The Taviani brothers describe how they found another actor in that film, young Lucio Dalla, the famous (and now deceased) singer-songwriter.

In nineteen sixty-nine they made a different kind of film, Under the Sign of Scorpio, and needed a special place to film it in. The whole cast, together with the directors, felt a particular sense of community both during and after the filming.

The Taviani brothers talk about how their movie Under the Sign of Scorpio was received at the Venice film festival, and about their location scouting for the film.

The directors talk about the important role the sea played in their films. Another element that played an important part was color, used to express feelings and situations.

The Taviani brothers talk about how color and images can be more important than the story itself. There are clips from interviews with them when they were much younger, and the director of photography contributes some thoughts, as well. The movie featured in this segment is Good Morning, Babylon from 1987.

This segment explains the title of the movie, Saint Michael Had a Rooster. The Taviani brothers, as well as the lead actor, talk about some aspects of the story, and Nanni Moretti comments on the camera technique.

The political vision of the Taviani brothers comes through in their movies, especially Allonsanfàn. The choices they made in the story were simply a reflection of their thinking at the time, not because the movies themselves were affiliated with a particular political party.

Although their films weren't overtly political, the Taviani brothers saw and heard what was "in the air" in Italy, and somehow captured some the essence of it, without even being aware of it.

The Taviani brothers talk about their movie The Elective Affinities, based on a novel by Goethe. Central to the film is the conflict between reason and passion, nature and the idea of utopia, as the love stories of two couples unfold.

Isabelle Huppert talks (in French) about the craziness of the film and the Taviani brothers talk about the character of their male protagonist and why they set the film in Tuscany, even though the story is German.

The Taviani brothers, as well as others in the filmmaking world, talk about what acting means, and how each actor brings something different to telling the story.

Saverio Marconi talks about the job of an actor. Nanni Moretti tells of an embarrassing moment on the set of a movie he was making with the Taviani brothers. Vittorio and Paolo Taviani talk about why they shot Caesar Must Die in black and white.

The Taviani brothers, at around eighty years of age, feel like they have gone back to their more reckless early days, with Caesar Must Die.

Nanni Moretti tells about how he got to see Caesar Must Die before it was released. The composer, Giuliano Taviani talks about how he became interested in writing music for film, and how budget limits actually inspired him in writing the music for this movie.

Music plays an essential role in the films of the Taviani brothers. It's like having another actor. Composer Nicola Piovani knows something about this having worked with them on some of their movies. He also composed the soundtrack for the movie La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) with Roberto Benigni.

Music and sound have major roles in the movies of the Taviani brothers. Notably, the tarantella from Allonsanfàn, written by Ennio Morricone, was also used by Tarantino in one of his movies, and that's when it became famous.

We learn about the ideas behind the movies, Father and Master and The Night of the Shooting Stars, and how music played a major role in both movies.

The Taviani brothers were adolescents during World War II, and talk about how tense it was growing up with the Germans and fascists so close by. A woman at a bar gives them directions to find one of the locations for filming The Night of the Shooting Stars.

The Taviani brothers reveal some tricks used during the filming of The Night of San Lorenzo and tell us how they managed to combine a particular sequence of the film with the cornerstone of Greek literature, The Iliad.

It's not often that two people, let alone brothers, can work together in perfect harmony. But artists who have worked with the Taviani brothers say they came very close. Paolo and Vittoio knew what they wanted and they knew how they wanted to obtain it, down to the letter.