In April 1998, Giuseppe Tornatore, the director of the Academy Award-winning movie “Cinema Paradiso”, got the assignment for a photo shoot in the city of Novij Urengoi, the energy treasure chest of Russia, where 25 percent of the world's natural gas comes from. Novij Urengoi, our destination, arose out of nowhere in 1970 for the exploitation of energy resources. In 1998 it was yet not marked on the maps, and the local temperatures would vary between -70 degrees and +20 Celsius degrees. A few months earlier I took part in the twinning project between San Donato, the city symbol of Italian energy, the historic headquarters of Eni, and Novij Urengoi on the occasion of the commercial agreement between the Russian Gazprom and Eni Having lived in those places for some weeks I was asked to accompany Giuseppe Tornatore on that journey. I took these photographs during that magical experience, while following Tornatore throughout his journey.