Five directors—Michele Placido, Julia von Heinz, Olivier Guerpillon, Jaco van Dormael, and Michael Winterbottom—reflect on the less visible and less-discussed meanings and implications of the pandemic in Europe, each referencing the reality closest to them during the strictest lockdown period.

In “La morte addosso” Michele Placido wanders through a deserted Rome, filming himself with his smartphone. By reinterpreting Luigi Pirandello’s text “La morte addosso” he assembles the most emblematic institutional images of isolation in Italy to reaffirm, alongside Andrea Bocelli and Roberto Bolle, the vital necessity and the life-saving power of art in moments when life itself is in danger.