|
Wednesday,
April 29 - Saturday, May 2
Directors
in Focus - Franco Piavoli
Co-presented
by the Center for Italian Studies at the
University of Pennsylvania
There
are those rare occasions in the art of cinema when the definition
of poetry must be expanded to include films of exquisite visual
imagery that surpass the power of words. Director Franco Piavoli
creates such work. For over a quarter century he has been crafting
a symphonic cinema in which natural sounds and images play like
the notes of a musical score. Praised as "unusually beautiful"
by the San Francisco Chronicle and enthusiastically
received at the 1982 Venice Film Festival, his first feature
Blue Planet played for an entire year in Rome.
Special
thanks to Regione Lombardia, Fondazione Banca Agricola
Mantovana, Provincia di Brescia, Lombardia Film Commission, Fabio
Finotti and Giuseppe Bruno-Bossio
Wednesday,
April 29 at 7pm
Blue
Planet (Il pianeta azzurro)
dir.
Franco Piavoli, Italy, 1982, 35mm, 90 mins, color, Italian w/
English subtitles
Introduced
by Leonard Guercio of Temple University
Winner
of Italy's Academy Award, Blue Planet contains images
and sounds meticulously collected over three years, that illustrate
the passing of time through 24 hours of a day, the four seasons
and the evolutionary existence of the planet itself. The film
begins by capturing the simplicity of winter’s thaw into spring
and then segues into everyday farm life in the Italian countryside,
where a multi-generational family goes about its daily routine
of harvesting the land. Piavoli asks us to discard customary
expectations about movies and enter into a different frame of
mind to appreciate the beautiful panorama of nature and life.
Thursday,
April 30 at 7pm
Nostos.
The Return (Nostos. Il ritorno)
dir.
Franco Piavoli, Italy, 1989, 87 mins, color, Hellenic Greek
and Italian w/ English subtitles
Introduced
by Nicola Gentili of University of Pennsylvania
A
sumptuous saga of man and nature, Nostos chronicles
the journey of its title character as he returns home from war.
His odyssey, fraught with natural obstacles, is a hero’s journey
of mythic proportions, one in which Nostos rediscovers the world
and himself. Part poem, part concert, the film mixes Wild
Kingdom with Ulysses to produce a work that transcends
genres. Piavoli tells his story through the power and beauty
of natural imagery underscored by a evocative sound track.
Friday,
May 1 at 7pm
Voices
through Time (Voci nel tempo)
dir.
Franco Piavoli, Italy, 1996, 89 mins, color, Italian w/ English
subtitles
Introduced
by Daniela De Pau of Drexel University
Set
in a bucolic Lombardy village, Piavoli's lyric ode to the cycles
of life charts the passages of infancy, youth, maturity and
old age against the seasons of the year. The chimes of the clock
in the town square punctuate the rhythm of existance: birth,
the amazements of childhood, the emotional upheavals of adolescence,
the first attempts and failures in romance, the dancing, the
loving, and the hallmark event of marriage. On that occasion
the nostalgia for faded youth unfolds with poetic grace. Inspired
by an old Italian folk saying, "Love makes time pass, and
time makes love pass," Piavoli observes the rituals of
human life in much the same way Microcosmos observed
the insect world’s delicate social universe.
Saturday,
May 2 at 5pm
At
the First Breath of Wind (Al primo soffio di vento)
dir.
Franco Piavoli, Italy, 2002, 89 mins, color, Italian w/ English
subtitles
Introduced
by Stefania Benini of University of Pennsylvania
Franco
Piavoli relies almost entirely on montage to develop this poetic
portrait of a beautiful summer day and the family who spends
it in almost total emotional isolation from one another. In
a villa in Lombardy, they pass each other going from room to
room - a few words are exchanged, but the underlying melancholy
of their separate existences becomes increasingly poignant as
the day progresses. Outside the house, the woods, the
animals, the river and the striking vitality of the African
farm workers who gather hay in the fields, all speak of an essential
energy that now eludes this family. Strains of piano music by
Satie and Ravel drift through the house. Time passes, and the
viewer becomes increasingly aware of an extraordinary emotional
experience is evoking.
Saturday,
May 2 at 7pm
Blue
Planet Reprise
Introduced
by Stefania Benini of University of Pennsylvania
See
Wednesday, April
29 for description.
|
