INFO: Association 50&More Livorno Via Serristori 15, tel. 0586 881128 – 3420459699
mail: livornouniversita@gmail.com . Fb: Livorno 50&More – spazio50.org/livorno
Coordination: Gianfranco Panariello (50&More Livorno); Artistic direction: Massimo Ghirlanda (Centro Studi Commedia all’Italiana); Press Office: Maurizio Mini.
On Sunday 3 November, the second appointment with Cinema Lessons, the eighth edition entitled Reality, visions and interpretations, organized in synergy between 50&Più Livorno, Centro Studi Commedia all’italiana, Erasmo Libri Editore and the Circolo del Cinema Kinoglaz, which for years have been promoting Cinema culture in the local area. The Lessons are sponsored by the Province of Livorno, the Municipality of Livorno, and ConfCommercio Livorno.
At the Centro Artistico il Grattacielo, at 17.30, the film Todo Modo by Elio Petri (Italy, 1976, 125 ‘) will be screened. The film will be introduced by Marco Bruciati.
Todo Modo – the film While a epidemic causing numerous victims spreads throughout the country, politicians, businessmen, and bankers all linked to the dominant Christian Democratic party come together at the spiritual exercises house Zafer run by Jesuits. Leading the exercises that should make the participants meditate on the sins committed due to a distorted conception of political activity is Don Gaetano and at the center of many attentions is the President. However, soon death begins to sow fear among the attendees and it is not about the consequences of the epidemic but about murders.
At the end of the film credits it reads “The events and characters of this film are imaginary. Any reference to reality is to be considered purely accidental ”. Rarely has a similar statement been so far from the truth of the facts and the will of the director and actors. As Petri himself recalled: “When we shot Todo modo, Volonté became evanescent, he walked as if he were on the clouds, he spoke softly, did not look you in the eye, all taken as he was from the character of Moro. His was an exceptionally intense effort of concentration. (…) For that character, Volonté and I made extensive use of the moviola. We had gathered many pieces of repertoire on Moro.”. At the time the film is released (30 April 1976) Aldo Moro is Prime Minister and the film arouses an infinity of controversies (which was its purpose) to the point of being sequestered in within a month. Less than two years later, on 16 March 1978, Moro was kidnapped by the BR and then killed. This decreed the definitive disappearance of the film. Which obviously has no responsibility for the subsequent events because Petri, freely adapting Sciascia’s homonymous novel, exaggerates the plans progressively leading them to a grotesque level aimed at denouncing a political system in which corruption spreads and which now sees the end near.
Elio Petri, pseudonym of Eraclio Petri (Rome, January 29, 1929 – Rome, November 10, 1982), began his career as a journalist: at just sixteen he got his first assignment and, just twenty, became a film critic for L’Unità. Three years later he began his activity in the world of cinema, collaborating with the great Giuseppe De Santis. His masterpiece is “Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion” from 1970. The story tells of a man (played by a Gian Maria Volontè in a state of grace) apparently respectable, chief inspector of the Homicide Section, who kills his lover and sows evidence of his guilt, sure of running no risk given his position. The film, an analysis and critique of the values on which civilization and power are based, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film the following year after its release. The author’s artistic maturity is at its peak.
The collaboration with Volontè continues successfully and the two bring to the screen “The Working Class Goes to Heaven” (1971), with which Petri wins the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. This is followed by “Property Is No Longer a Theft” from 1973 and in particular “Todo modo”, released in theaters three years later, are examples of civil cinema completely devoid of hope. Elio Petri passed away at only 53, due to a serious illness.
Marco Bruciati was born in Livorno, graduated in cinema, theater, multimedia production at the University of Pisa, he is currently a teacher of theories and techniques of multimedia communications. He works as a videomaker and cultural operator with the Circolo del Cinema Kinoglaz, for which he follows the organization of projects and research to enhance and disseminate quality film culture, curating reviews, seminars, and cineforums.
He was artistic director in Livorno of the 2023 edition of Effetto Venezia entitled “Cinema is the city”.
The LESSONS are held at the Museum of Natural History in via Roma 234. The FILM screenings will be held at the Centro Artistico il Grattacielo, in via del Platano 6.
Cost of each lesson: € 7.00 full price; € 5.00 reduced for 50&Più, Centro Studi Commedia all’Italiana, and Circolo Kinoglaz members, young people up to 25 years old; Marathon Lesson costs: for everyone € 7.00 afternoon session – € 5.00 evening session – cumulative both sessions € 10.00.
Participants students are expected to receive a certification to make use of any school credit.
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