Historical and artistic themed films and documentaries
ATLANS FEMINAE
Italy, 2024, 14’, col.
Director: Eleonora Rossi
Screenplay: Eleonora Rossi
Cinematography: Eleonora Rossi
Film Editing: Eleonora Rossi
This work-in-progress cycle by Eleonora Rossi dwells on several women in history through a contemporary revisitation of the tradition of the portrait. Chosen beacuse of personal affinities, Isabella d’Este, Sofonisba Anguissola, Leonora Carrington, and Fernanda Wittgens’ stories are told by the artist with the aim of filling the gaps in history and finding in each of them a common feminine sensitivity that crosses the boundaries of time and space through a representation which is intimate and universal at the same time.
BANKSY – UNAUTHORIZED
Italy, 2024, 80’, col.
Director: Francesco Invernizzi
Film Editing: Simone Brassin
Cast: Alessandro Romanini, Mart Signed, Lorenzo Vivarelli
Production: Magnitudo Film
Through the words of art historians Alessandro Romanini and Lorenzo Vivarelli, street artist from Livorno Mart Signed and the interviews with the artist himself, “Banksy Unauthorized” follows the tracks of one of the most controversial but also fascinating personalities of the last few years, focusing on the social issues he talks about in his works and of his legendary anonymity.
BOROM SARRET
Senegal, 1963, 18’, B/W
Director: Ousmane Sembène
Screenplay: Ousmane Sembène
Cinematography: Christian Lacoste, Ibrahima Barro
Film Editing: André Gaudier
Cast: Ly Abdoulaye, Albourah
Production: Les Films Domirev, Les actualités Françaises
First feature by author and director Ousmane Sembène, this 1963 short film is considered the first African film ever. Post-independence Senegal is narrated authentically, devoid of the stereotyped image created by the Western propaganda. A poor wagoner’s working day in Dakar becomes an expedient to describe the contrasts between poverty and wealth, tradition and modernity, which are typical themes of African cinema.
COCORICÒ TAPES
Italy, 2023, 67’, col.
Director: Francesco Tavella
Screenplay: Francesco Tavella, Matteo Lolletti
Cinematography: Luca Nervegna
Film Editing: Luca Berardi, Luca Nervegna
Music: Matteo Vallicelli
Cast: Franco Battiato, Ilona Staller, Loris Riccardi, Renzo Palmier
Production: La Furia Film, Sunset Produzioni
With its famous pyramidal shape, the Cocoricò nightclub in Riccione represents the hedonism, the extravagance and the vitality of the Adriatic coast in the 90s. Ex art director Loris Riccardi revisits those years filled with optimism but also anxiety towards the future through the story of the nightclub, which was provocative and innovative artistically and musically. This documentary presents many VHS recordings of the time and many exclusive interviews with the main protagonists of the Cocoricò scene in those days.
DE CHIRICO E PAOLINI: IL VIANDANTE E LA SUA OMBRA
Italy, 2023, 55’, col.
Director: Gabriele Simongini, Raffaele Simongini
Screenplay: Gabriele Simongini, Raffaele Simongini
Cinematography: Mario Russo
Film Editing: Ivan Corbucci
Music: Roberto Laneri, Francesco Iachello
Cast: Giulio Paolini, Fabio Benzi, Piero A. Corsini, Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli, Paolo Picozza
Production: Fondazione Maxxi
This documentary, shot between Rome and Turin, investigates the bond between two of the most important personalities of the Italian art scene in the 20th century: Giorgio de Chirico and his successor Giulio Paolini. After attending a conference at Carignano Palace in 1958, during which de Chirico harshly criticized modern art, a very young Paolini elected the main exponent of Metaphysical painting as his mentor and guide, following his steps and bringing his own art to an even more conceptual level. Paolini himself recounts this passing of the torch and retraces the places and milestones that marked their relationship.
GRAND TOUR ALLA SCOPERTA DELL’ITALIA
Italy, 2023, 83’, col.
Director: Francesco Invernizzi
Production: Magnitudo Film
This documentary retraces the Italian itineraries of the Grand Tour, a long trip through the most stunning places of Europe which the members of the high society used to embark on between the 18th and the 19th century.
GUERRILLA GIRLS
USA, 2023, 17’, col.
Director: Malika Zouhali-Worrall
Cinematography: Naiti Gámez
Film Editing: Steven J. Golliday
Music: Andrew Orkin
Cast: Cleo Berliner, Esther Chao, Jonathan Evans, Coco Fusco, Sam Giarratani, Jasmine Guzman, Rujeko Hockley, Emily Majors, Muna Malik, Cameron Mesirow, Roberto Morales, Frances Morris, Sriranjini Raman, Samhita Ramji, Juan Rojero, Will Sylvester, Dr. Deborah Willis
Production: ART21
Malika Zouhali-Worrall tells the story of “Frida Kahlo” and “Käthe Kollwitz”, two anonymous activists from the Guerrilla Girls collective who have been taking to the streets dressed in black with gorilla masks since 1985 to protest against the discrimination and the exclusion of women and non-white artists from the art world.
JAIL TIME RECORDS
Cameroon, 2020, 50’, col.
Director: Dione Roach
Production: Vidou H
In 2018, Australian artist and videomaker Dione Roach was working in Cameroon as a volunteer for Italian NGO COE (Centro Orientamento Educativo). After having carried out some activities at the Douala Central Prison, she decided to found, along with musical producer Vidou H, a music label inside the prison with the aim of giving the prisoners and the ex-prisoners a space for expressing their talent and promoting their social rehabilitation. This project, which is still active, is named Jail Time Records. It is a positive reality which has succeeded in changing the perception of life behind the bars.
LES STATUES MEURENT AUSSI
France, 1953, 30’, b/n
Director: Alain Resnais, Chris Marker, Ghislain Cloquet
Screenplay: Chris Marker
Cinematography: Ghislain Cloquet
Film Editing: Alain Resnais
Music: Guy Bernard
Cast: Jean Négroni, François Mitterrand, Papa Pio XII
Production: Tadié, Présence Africaine
On behalf of French association “Présence africaine”, between 1950 and 1953 Alain Resnais, Chris Marker and Ghislain Cloquet shot a documentary between France and Africa following the tracks of African art and exposing the enormous damage that Colonialism has caused through the centuries, unfairly viewing it as inferior and destroying most of it. The anti-imperialist themes and the comparison with the art of other cultures such as the Romans, the Indians and the Japanese caused the short film to be censored by the Centre National de la Cinématographie up until 1963
PACIFIC CLUB
France, 2023, 17’, col.
Director: Valentin Noujaїm
Screenplay: Valentin Noujaїm
Cinematography: Pauline Doméjean
Film Editing: Dinah Ekchajzer
Music: Julien Mézence
Cast: Azedine Benabdelmoumene, Taos Bertrand, Julien Mézence
Production: Iliade et Films
This French short film recounts the story of the first nightclub for the Arabian community of Paris. Opened in the basements of business district La Défense in 1979, the Pacific Club is the symbol of a generation of young immigrants who were trying to find their place in the French capital with their hopes and dreams but also under the threats of AIDS, heroine and racism.
PALLADIO
Italy/Argentina, 2019, 97’, col.
Director: Giacomo Gatti
Screenplay: Giacomo Gatti, Elia Gonella
Film Editing: Giacomo Gatti, Tommaso Feraboli
Music: Diego Ronzio
Cast: Kenneth Frampton, Peter Eisenman, Lionello Puppi, Antonio Foscari, Gregorio Carboni Maestri, Charles Suarez Smith, Caroline Stanford, Fabrizio Magani, Francesco Doglioni, Louis P. Nelson, Alexandra di Valmarana, Alberto Torsello, Christian Malinverni
Production: Magnitudo Film
This film deals with the legacy of the great Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio on a journey through time and space. The story of three restoration students and of a young University professor who discussed with his mentors on how to convey the values of Humanism to the younger generations are an expedient to discover the Palladian influences in various UNESCO Heritage sites in Northern Italy and the most important American institution buildings such as the US Supreme Court of Washington and the New York Stock Exchange. This is also one of the few documentaries who got permission to film inside the White House.
TAXI WAVES
Italy, 2019, 60’, col.
Director: Tommaso Cassinis
Screenplay: Mike Chalandra Achode
Cinematography: Tommaso Cassinis
Film Editing: Mike Chalandra Achode, Tommaso Cassinis
Music: Diego Ronzio
Cast: Mike Chalandra Achode, Francesco Cucchi
Production: TimVision Product, Crudovolta, Controluce
Taxi Waves, a miniseries made of 30-minutes-long episodes, browses the Electromusic scene of African metropolis such as Addis Abeba and Lagos. This taxi journey will lead us to discovering the rhythms, sounds and vibes that have captured and influenced music across the world in recent years, reaching the clubs in Berlin, London and New York. Michael Chalandra Achode and Tommaso Cassinis venture into the Afrobeat universe in search of Ethiopian folklore mixed with House music, Pandza, Marrabenta and Pon-pon, along with many other genres that make Africa and the whole world dance.
