Controversial, sanguine, irreverent, but also ambitious, creative, nonconformist, in any case a man who left no one indifferent: Alejandro De Tomaso was that and more. Argentine by birth, but Modenese by adoption, he began his relationship with the automobile as a racing driver, then manufacturer of racing cars and finally an industrialist; in the 1950s he moved to Modena to get closer to the center of motorsports in those years, starting immediately with Formula Junior cars and then moving on to Formula 3 and finally landing in F1 as well.
At the same time, he engaged in the production of sports cars, such as the Vallelunga and the Mangusta, which are still highly desired by collectors today, and he began the acquisition of some important Turin coachbuilders such as Ghia and Vignale, already demonstrating an irrepressible desire to broaden his horizons. In the 1970s he was an absolute protagonist in a series of acquisitions that would gradually lead him to become the second largest Italian automotive group after FIAT: Benelli motorcycles in Pesaro, Moto Guzzi in Mandello del Lario, Maserati in Modena, and Innocenti in Milan would be the new geography in which De Tomaso would move with equal brilliance and impetuosity, brandishing the national and international press and challenging the workforce in the tumultuous years between the 1970s and 1980s.
A man of great intuitions, from a totally electric city car to small Japanese turbocharged engines, to the deals with the Americans at Ford, whose mighty V8 engine would go on to power the company's iconic car, the Pantera, a protagonist in the movies as well as in endurance races. With the Maserati Biturbo, he revolutionized the Emilian company in 1981 with a small sports car, innovative in technique and style, which would ensure the factory's survival throughout the 1980s. In 1993 a stroke suddenly interrupted the entrepreneur's volcanic activity and gradually the various businesses were sold off; only De Tomaso Automobili remained, whose activity would effectively come to a halt with the departure of the founder in 2003.
In 2018, in total media silence, even the last legacy of that era disappears with the demolition of the historic Modena plant, in a sort of damnatio memorie in the thick Emilian fog.
A man beloved and hated at the same time, divisive to be sure, but in his own way brilliant.
What remains today of this human and ideal legacy?

The Director:
Davide Maffei, a filmmaker from Modena, directs award-winning documentaries dedicated to industrial culture, architecture, and design. Among his feature films are La Fabbrica Blu, Paradigma Olivetti, Prospettiva Olivetti, Alfabeto Mangiarotti, and his recent Bruno Morassutti – Tema e Variazioni, which premiered at the Rotterdam AFFR in 2025. He made his debut in 2013 with a documentary on the Eni Village, and since 2015, he has been a founding member and secretary of the Edoardo Gellner Architect Association. His works, which also include the short film R-Nord (exhibited at the Milan Triennale), are selected for international festivals and distributed worldwide.

Production:
The film is produced by AirPixel, an independent producer with a long-standing collaboration with the director, which has already layed the foundation of numerous successful films.