George Romero and the New American Horror
Lucca, Palazzo Ducale
26 March – 1 May 2016
MARIO
Chiara Rapaccini and Andrea Vierucci for Monicelli. Ghosts
Viareggio, GAMC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Lorenzo Viani
2 April – 16 May 2016
Marco Bellocchio – The Painting behind the Lens
Viareggio, Villa Argentina
9 April – 1 May 2016
Wild gaze – The Mondo Movie World in Italy, Gualtiero Jacopetti
Barga, Galleria Comunale, Galleria Bel Canto
1 April – 1 May 2016
Press release
The Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema return and with it the companion exhibits that, beyond movie screenings, for years have paid tribute to the great international directors guests who have taken part in the event. After the exhibitions dedicated to Peter Greenaway, David Lynch and, last year, to David Cronenberg with Jeremy Irons presence in Lucca, this year the Comitato Nuovi Eventi per Lucca has organized and produced four exhibits, all Italian premieres, honoring George Romero, Mario Monicelli, Marco Bellocchio and Gualtiero Jacopetti’s Mondo Movie World. All have been made possible thanks to the support of Banca Société Générale, the main sponsor of the exhibitions and this year the series of events will enliven not only the cities Lucca and Viareggio, but also the medieval town of Barga in the valley of the Serchio.
A major exhibition dedicated to George Romero, American director and screenwriter, the master of horror who will be the guest of honor of the Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema 2016 from 3 to 10 April, will be hosted by the Palazzo Ducale in Lucca from 26 March to 1 May 2016. For the first time in Italy, the Maestro’s fans will be able to view 40 items linked to his works including flyers, playbills and Italian original posters in a clear chronological order. In the first rooms, visitors can admire posters and playbills of the Zombie trilogy (Night of the Living Dead 1968; Dawn of the Dead of 1978 and Day of the Dead in 1985). The exhibition continues with the display of large posters (two meters by one meter forty) made for the films Creepshow of 1982, The Crazies in 1973 and many more. The tribute to “New American Horror” fathered by Romero closes with a series of American original posters autographed by the greatest actors and authors of the time like Wes Craven, H.G. Lewis and Bran Yuzna. What makes the posters, flyers and playbills unique is that they are actual illustrations sketched by the most famous designers of the period. The pieces come from the private collection of film critic and collector Paolo Zelati. The exhibition is part of a wider project with strong musical connotations taking place at the Palazzo Ducale on the same dates and that is born from the collaboration with the Association of Composers “Cluster” and the School of Symphony Music of Lucca.
The seaside city of Viareggio, instead, will host two exhibitions celebrating two great masters of Italian cinema, Mario Monicelli and Marco Bellocchio.
The exhibit MARIO. Chiara and Andrea Rapaccini Vierucci for Monicelli. Ghosts will be on display at GAMC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea with an installation by artist Chiara Rapaccini and photographer Andrea Vierucci (2-16 May 2016). Still in Viareggio, Villa Argentina will pay tribute to Marco Bellocchio with a new series of paintings and drawings by the Italian Director. The exhibition Marco Bellocchio. The Painting behind the Lens is curated by Alessandro Romanini (9 April-1 May 2016).
For the MARIO project, Chiara Rapaccini, in art RAP and Mario Monicelli’s life-time partner, found inspiration in the photographs of his private archives; images taken by the greatest scene photographers on the sets of the Italian director’s masterpieces between the 60s and 90s. These pictures had been thrown away, along with other valuable documents, by Monicelli himself as he thought them to be “documents of the past without any value”. Chiara salvaged and over the years cataloged, sorted and archived them, drawing inspiration from the stark contrasts of black and white film, from their extraordinary expressive power – the images are by Secchiaroli, Strizzi, Doisneau – and from the portraits of the great actors of Italian comedy. RAP worked on the pictures with acrylic paint and dry-point then printed the images on large linen sheets, and finally reworked them with brushstrokes and embroidery. Using the technique of comics and of free writing, she “dialogues” with the protagonists of the great Italian cinema, Sordi, Totò, Anna Magnani, Mastroianni, thus creating the floating “Ghosts” then photographed by Andrea Vierucci inside a post-industrial architecture with a spectral and monumental atmosphere.
Marco Bellocchio. The Painting behind the Lens gathers more than 100 works by the Italian director. The first group consists of 12 paintings completed at a young age, between the age of 20 and 23, when Bellocchio’s eyes started interpreting the world in cinematic terms, but when his hands were still expressing themselves with a brush. These works were conceived while Pop Art was spreading internationally, an art movement that was definitively consecrated at the Venice Biennale in 1964. The human figure is the fulcrum and the philosophical and formal framework of Bellocchio’s paintings; the act of painting becomes a tool to conduct social surveys and, like many of his films, is the instrument of psychological introspection. On display also about 100 of Bellocchio’s works on paper that he sketched while making his films, from Fists in the Pocket in 1966 to the award-winning Blood of my Blood of 2015. Drawings and sketches, but also real and self-standing works. A sort of “pre-visualization” of the film characters, of their behavioral tics, of their psychological profile and a rendering of the costumes, surroundings, sets and the lighting, weather and color conditions. Most of these works are accompanied by the director’s hastily jotted down comments and phrases, shooting instructions or notes for collaborators such as set and costume designers, photography directors.
Last but not least, the Galleria Comunale and Galleria Bel Canto in historic center of the medieval town of Barga will host the exhibition The Mondo Movie World in Italy dedicated to Gualtiero Jacopetti curated by Paolo Zelati (1 April – 1 May 2016). Together with Franco Prosperi and Paolo Cavara, the journalist, writer and filmmaker Gualtiero Jacopetti directed the documentary film Mondo Cane, the forefather of “Mondo movies” or shockumentaries; works that in the 60s invaded the Italian cinemas with their strong and shocking images. The original posters and playbills of Mondo Cane and of many other films will contribute in offering an overview of the genre that Jacopetti helped create. Additionally, a series of 30 playbills will illustrate just as many “Mondo Movies” filmed during the sixties and seventies.
The Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema directed by Nicola Borrelli, is one of the key events organized and sponsored by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca. The exhibits are organized and produced by the Comitato Nuovi Eventi per Lucca with the support of Banca Société Générale. The Festival also enjoys the support of Gesam Gas & Luce SpA, Banca Pictet, Banca Generali Private Banking, Banca Carismi, the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, Stonecycle, Il Ciocco S.p.A., Il Ciocco International Travel Service S.r.l., Idrotherm 2000, MiBACT (the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism), the Region of Tuscany, the City of Lucca, the City of Viareggio, the Province of Lucca with the collaboration of the Fondazione Sistema Toscana, the Fondazione Giacomo Puccini and Puccini Museum – Casa Natale, the Fondazione Centro Arti Visive, CG Entertainment and the Photolux Festival. Thanks also to Lucca Comics & Games, the Fondazione Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Trenitalia Regional Management, Unicoop Firenze and to the Degree Course in Performing Arts and Civilization Department of Communication and Forms of Knowledge at the University of Pisa for their collaboration.
Info: Lucca Film Festival e Europa Cinema
segreteria@luccafilmfestival.it – www.luccafilmfestival.it
George Romero and the New American Horror
Lucca, Palazzo Ducale
26 March – 1 May 2016
Every day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Free entrance
Wild Gaze – The Mondo Movie World in Italy , Gualtiero Jacopetti
Barga, Galleria Comunale, Galleria Bel Canto
1 April – 1 May 2016
Monday thru Friday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. – 5.30 p.m.
Sunday 10.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. – 5.30 p.m.
Free entrance
MARIO
Chiara Rapaccini e Andrea Vierucci for Monicelli. Ghosts
Viareggio, GAMC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Lorenzo Viani
Tel. +39 0584 581118
2 April – 16 May 2016
Tuesday thru Sunday 3.30 p.m. – 7.30 p.m.
Free entrance to the exhibition with ticket to the GAMC Gallery (Full price 8 Euro, Reduced 4 Euro)
Marco Bellocchio – The Painting behind the Lens
Viareggio, Villa Argentina
9 April – 1 May2016
Tuesday thru Sunday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Free entrance
Press Office Lucca Film Festival e Europa Cinema:
PS Comunicazione di Antonio Pirozzi (339/5238132); www.pscomunicazione.it
English: Tessa Wiechmann
Press Office Exhibitions:
Davis & Francheschini: info@davisefranceschini.it; Lea Codognato/Caterina Briganti
tel. + 39 055/2347273; www.davisefranceschini.it
External Relations and Communication Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca:
Marcello Petrozziello (0583 472627; 340 6550425); comunicazione@fondazionecarilucca.it
