#RomaFF14 | The Exhibitions at the 14th Rome Film Fest

EXHIBIT CECCHI GORI. AN ITALIAN FAMILY
Press Preview 17 October, 12 pm | Foyer Sala Sinopoli (Auditorium Parco della Musica)
The exhibition “CECCHI GORI. An Italian Family” is entirely based on never-seen-before materials discovered in the process of making the documentary of the same name, produced by Giuseppe Lepore and directed by Simone Isola and Marco Spagnoli. It aims to reconstruct the history of one of the most important production companies in the Italian film industry. The story began in an era that is long gone by now, a time when hundreds of millions of spectators thronged the movie theaters, with tickets being torn as automatically as the finishing line was crossed effortlessly by the Olympic athletes of the day, whose heroic feats enchanted the public. These were the golden years of Italian film, marvelous years, even “easy days”, as a certain film suggested at the time; above all, they were unforgettable and never to be seen again. Cinema in the 1950s was still a frontier to be won, a time when it was entirely possible for an ex-resistance fighter for the Party of Action, Mario Cecchi Gori, to become one of the most important producers in the Italian film business in just a few years, his first box office hit being The Easy Life. And from father to son, by way of the key figure represented by Mario’s wife and Vittorio’s father, Valeria Pestelli, the Cecchi Gori family left their mark on fifty years of Italian film history, entertainment and society as a whole. The exhibited photographs come from Vittorio Cecchi Gori’s personal archives and have never been seen before, except by family members and the producer’s entourage. They are an invaluable testament to the more mainstream films turned out by the industry, from the comedies of the 1960s, graced with Dino Risi, Alberto Sordi and Alberto Lattuada, to the new generation of comedians in the 80s and the international hits Vittorio Cecchi Gori scored in the 90s. The exhibition lingers over the lasting friendship, on and off set, between Mario Cecchi Gori and Vittorio Gassman. “CECCHI GORI. An Italian Family” is the story of how one Renaissance-style artists’ workshop morphed into an industry and ultimately the first real major in Europe. A place and space in time teeming with talent yet destined to undergo a sudden, swift decline, and a past buried under the weight of legal proceedings that have dimmed the brightness of the memory of such an impressive achievement – which has nonetheless left its mark on contemporary Italian cinema, inclined as it is to forget the debt it owes to its seminal figures and, as we all know, side with the winner. For years, time has stood still and memories no longer flickered across the screen; this exhibition aims to put a crucial era in film production back in the spotlight and rediscover one of the key chapters in the history of Italian cinema.
Curators and authors: Simone Isola – Marco Spagnoli | Artistic Director: Giuseppe Lepore | Organization, Coordination and Communication: Emilio Sturla | Research and digitization: Camilla Crisciotti, Matteo Vitelli | Project and implementation: Bielle Re Srl – Rome, Italy | Photos: Archivio Vittorio Cecchi Gori, © 2019, Bielle Re Srl. All rights reserved | Thanks to: Certi W ® – Certiluxe ® Interflora ® | Catalogue published by: LGE Edizioni – Rome, Italy
 17 – 27 October, 9 am – 12 am
Auditorium Parco della Musica – Foyer Sala Sinopoli
 
VALERIO BERRUTI. LA GIOSTRA DI NINA | NINA’S CAROUSEL
Press Preview 18 October, 6 pm | MAXXI
Valerio Berruti’s film project, called “Nina’s Carousel,” is composed of roughly 3,000 handmade drawings joined in a sequence, in the process turning into the frames of a video. On Friday, October 18 at 6 pm, this special animated short film – produced by Sky Arte, with a score composed exclusively for this work by Ludovico Einaudi – will have its world premiere at the MAXXI Museum during the Rome Film Fest, followed by a talk with the artist. On the same day, in the museum lobby, there will be the inauguration of the monumental installation of the same name, featuring a large carousel, one of the most evocative symbols of childhood: a sculpture 7m in diameter inspired by the classic merry-go-round, created by the artist himself. Children and adults will be invited on for a ride. The short film will be screened continuously in the MAXXI Videogallery, and the carousel will be on view until October 27, 2019. This exhibition has been promoted and realized by MAXXI – National Museum of XXI Century Arts, as part of the Rome Film Fest programme. Lavazza is the exclusive sponsor. The project is curated by Monia Trombetta.
18-27 October
MAXXI (via Guido Reni 4a)
Info: https://www.maxxi.art
 
EXHIBIT “ALTAN. PIMPA, CIPPUTI E ALTRI PENSATORI”
Press Preview 22 October, 12 pm – Extra MAXXI Space
Altan is the protagonist of a major exhibition at MAXXI, produced in co-production with Fondazione Solares and Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, curated by Anne Palopoli and Luca Raffaelli. A complete examination to recount, in a structured journey, all of his work among original drawings, posters, illustrations, paintings, sketches, tables, books and videos. Altan’s world is a world where doubt turns out to be the only great certainty possible, in which the great myths of history are overturned and humanity tries to float in the messy sea of life. We are saved by a little dog who, strong in its desire for knowledge, smiles at the wonders of the universe. Altan’s characters are all free thinkers, so free to be able to confess to themselves and to the world their own desire for self-destruction. But their thinking is always a revelation, it’s what we were about to say, it’s what we had on the tip of the tongue. Altan reveals it to us with surprising clarity. As if he was always one step ahead of us. At last a complete exhibition of an author able to move easily between drawings dedicated and childhood and adventure comics, illustrated novels and animated films, cartoons and screenplays. A catalogue published by Franco Cosimo Panini accompanies the exhibition.
23 October 2019 – 12 January 2020
Extra MAXXI Space (via Guido Reni 4a)
Info: https://www.maxxi.art
 
EXHIBIT “RAGAZZE”
The thirty artworks by the Roman artist Lucianella Cafagna on show all share the theme of the ‘maiden’ or ‘nymph’, an archetypical figure in the history of art just as in film, literature and psychoanalysis. This exhibition, to be held at Palazzo Merulana October 23-31, is curated by Marco Di Capua will be presented by Concita De Gregorio. It pays homage to a new “girls’ army”, from Malala to Greta Thunberg. Guardian nymphs and warrior maidens, these girls oppose the myriad injustices of our time with the courage and determination of as many Antigones. The exhibition will also feature the presentation of the novel Più in alto del giorno, the story of one such maiden written by the journalist and author Valentina Orengo (October 28 at 18:30). And during the Rome Film Fest there will also be a reading by actor Fabrizio Gifuni from the novel That Awful Mess on Via Merulana, in honor of the museum’s location (October 26 at 19:00): On that occasion, Gifuni will also comment on a clip of Un maledetto imbroglio by Pietro Germi, a film based on the novel by Carlo Emilio Gadda.
23 – 31 October
Palazzo Merulana (Via Merulana 121)
Info: https://www.palazzomerulana.it