Festival celebrates evolution of Italian cinema
Fellini, Pasolini, De Sica, Visconti, Morricone, Rossellini, Mastroianni — the list goes on. The names of Italian cinema greats evoke history and glamour. From Friday to Aug 28, the Embassy of Italy, in collaboration with the Thai Film Archive and the National Museum of Cinema in Turin, will host the exhibition “Dolce Vita: Italian Cinema And Culture”, a showcase of Italian film history through photographs, posters, videos and VR goggles, as well as a specially curated film programme (see below). All of this will take place at Thai Film Archive, Salaya. Admission is free.
The exhibition encapsulates the rich evolution of Italian cinema from its silent era — capped by the epic Cabiria (1914), one of the masterpieces of early cinema — to its post-war golden age ushered in by neo-realist masters and movie stars, Oscar-winning productions and contemporary talents. All materials at the exhibition are provided by the National Museum of Cinema in Turin, one of the world’s most-renowned film museums housed in the historic Mole Antonelliana, with the designers from the museum and from the Thai Film Archive working together.
But the programme is not only about film history. The exhibition plots a deep cultural relationship between cinema and other cultural expressions, namely cuisine, fashion and cityscape. The show has a section devoted to food in film, to iconic cities and towns featured in Italian movies, red-carpet glitz and Italian cinema as pop-art. While masters like Fellini and Pasolini are celebrated, and while the gritty realism of post-war cinema is documented, the exhibition also invites us to appreciate the social context that lends this national cinema a unique character.
Then there is the film programme. Four titles will be screened, starting on Friday and every weekend throughout June:
Ennio: The Maestro (Friday, 3.30pm): This 2021 documentary by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso) celebrates the brilliant career of Ennio Morricone, one of the greatest film composers in history.
La Strada (June 5, 1pm): Federico Fellini’s passionate, beautiful and terrifying masterpiece from 1954 chronicles the journey of a poor young woman who becomes a star in a travelling carnival.
Accattone (June 12, 1pm): Pier Paolo Pasolini’s first film made in 1961 is a rough, real and altogether touching portrait of a pimp’s life in a poor neighbourhood of Rome as he struggles to recruit women and find redemption for his own soul.
Fuocoammare (June 19, 1pm): Gianfranco Rosi’s 2016 documentary looks at the life of locals and refugees on the island of Lampedusa off the Italian coast. The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
All screenings are free of charge and come with Thai and English subtitles. Reserve your seat at Film Archive | Dolce Vita: Italian Cinema And Culture (fapot.or.th).
The exhibition will officially open on Friday at 6pm and be on view every day except Mondays. The Thai Film Archive is located on Phutthamonthon Sai 5 Road, Salaya. Visit fapot.or.th.