PUBLICATIONS
IL CINEMA RITROVATO 2024
FESTIVAL CATALOGUE | Book, pp. 448
Our catalogue is more than a guide to our films! It’s an essential part of the festival, an encyclopedia of knowledge which arouse curiosity, put the films in their proper historical context and preserve the memory of the films seen. Please note that the information in the catalogue is also available online.
LUCHINO VISCONTI. EPISTOLARIO (1920-1961)
edited by Caterina d’Amico de Carvalho e Alessandra Favino | Book, pp. 896
Luchino Visconti, by way of his letters – those he wrote and those he received during a career which left an indelible mark on the art, theatre, opera and cinema of the 20th century. The first of two monumental volumes, this book covers the years from 1937 to 1961 (with a brief prelude from 1920). A crucial period covering the development and affirmation of the Visconti legend: from his apprenticeship with Renoir to the Resistance during the Fascist period, his memorable direction of theatre and opera, and on to his first successes in the cinema, from the “invention” of Neorealism with Ossessione through to his definitive masterpiece Rocco and His Brothers. It includes more than 700 letters in which Visconti converses with figures such as Maria Callas, Franco Zeffirelli, Vittorio Gassman, Ingrid Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Salvador Dalí, Cesare Zavattini, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, and many more. A concert featuring some 200 instruments and a single maestro, a rare opportunity to discover the working method, thoughts and actions of a unique individual who influenced the cultural history of our country.
LIMELIGHT – LUCI DELLA RIBALTA
2 Dvds with booklet, pp. 80
Charlie Chaplin’s 79th work, and yet another masterpiece. Set in London in 1914, it is a great film about old age, nostalgia and the end of an era – that of the music hall, where Charlie learned his trade. Limelight began life as a novel (Footlights, which remained unpublished for more than 60 years until the Cineteca di Bologna released it in 2014) and went on to become Chaplin’s final American film – he was targeted by McCarthyism and forbidden from returning to the US following the film’s European tour – as well as his artistic testament, a film of tremendous depth and humanity. The rare archival extras and documentary materials include Cecilia Cenciarelli’s documentary Chaplin Ritrovato: Luci della ribalta (2023), narrated by Lella Costa; Edgardo Cozarinsky’s Chaplin Today (2003) with Bernardo Bertolucci and Claire Bloom; and Charlie Chaplin a Roma (1952). The accompanying booklet, curated by Cecilia Cenciarelli, includes contributions on the film, Chaplin’s critical interpretations of late 19th and early 20th century music-hall, extracts from the novel Footlights, the recollections of Claire Bloom and Buster Keaton, and a set report by Henry Gris.
KEATON! L’integrale
Volume 2 | 3 Dvds, 3 Blu-rays and a booklet, pp . 72
Thanks to a project conducted by the Cineteca di Bologna over several years, Keaton’s films – among the most reworked films of the silent era – are finally available in Italy in a version as close to the original as possible. This second volume includes 13 films, which confirm that the cinema only ever had one Buster Keaton: a masterpiece such as The Cameraman; the Dadaist architecture of The Scarecrow; the western parodies Go West and The Frozen North; the Keaton-orchestra-man of The Playhouse; the amorous tribulations of The Blacksmith, The Saphead and Seven Chances; the adventures in prison of Convict 13 and those in the sea and the air in The Boat, The Love Nest, Day Dreams and The Balloonatic. The musical accompaniments reflect the variety of these timeless works: from the piano scores of Daniele Furlati and Neil Brand to the small ensembles of Donald Sosin, Robert Israel and the Mont Alto Orchestra, in addition to the full orchestral scores composed and conducted by Carl Davis and Timothy Brock. It also includes a detailed booklet curated by Cecilia Cenciarelli containing entries for each film and notes on the restorations.
ALBERT SAMAMA CHIKLI
Photographer, Director, Navigator
edited by Mariann Lewinsky Libro, pp. 348
Albert Samama Chikli (1872-1934) was a pioneer of African cinema, a brilliant photographer, a technophile and inventor, a sailor, a prince, a nomad, a polymath and an independent artist. His life, works and passions take us back to the shores of the Mediterranean, a crossroad of knowledge and civilisation. A deep love of his homeland, Tunisia, emerges from Samama’s photography; he shows us, for the first time, the profile of this land from the heights of a hot-air balloon, the labour of farmers and fishermen, the Bedouin world of the great south, the riches of the colonised but flourishing city of Tunis. The films he made reveal his indisputable talent and modern mindset. He documents the Great War for the French army and shoots, along with daughter Haydée as screenwriter and actress, two feature-length films. This dual language volume – Italian and English – is accompanied by a wealth of images. It retraces the course of Samama’s multifaceted artistic career and reconstructs his complete filmography for the first time, thanks in large part to the archive materials held by the Samama Chikli Collection of Cineteca di Bologna.