Streaming Quick Picks: David Cronenberg
For more than 40 years, David Cronenberg has stimulated, provoked, shocked, and terrified us. With UW Cinematheque’s “3 from Cronenberg” series starting this Thursday, it seems only right that this master of horror should be our next director of the week.
My introduction to Cronenberg was as a kid, when I watched his 1986 remake of The Fly. A tale of teleportation and transformation, it is perhaps the most mainstream introduction to Cronenberg’s characteristic hybridization of science fiction and horror, and more specifically his preoccupation with “body horror” and its intersection with the psychosexual. Of course, I didn’t exactly key into that as a 12-year-old. It was memorable for me quite simply because, with the eerie atmosphere and the stomach-churning gore, Cronenberg made me afraid. Very afraid.
I didn’t see anything else by him until well after I had started studying film, when eXistenZ was released in 1999. When I caught a midnight screening of his adaptation of William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch not too long after, I honestly couldn’t get enough of his work. Naked Lunch, Videodrome, The Fly, and Dead Ringers are nothing less than modern masterworks of cinema. Go back to their forerunners—Scanners and The Brood—and you can revel in the B-movie roots of an A-list director. Unfortunately, his more recent work has been uneven at best. I was quite taken with A History of Violence and particularly Eastern Promises, both forays into more straightforward crime pictures. That said, A Dangerous Method and Cosmopolis are compelling only in their rigorous tedium. These last two films aside, though, Cronenberg almost invariably delivers on one of cinema’s most fundamental pleasures—seeing that which you’ve never seen before.
Happily, the bulk of Cronenberg’s work is readily available via streaming platforms, though there are a few links below that will take you to physical copies via our friends at Four Star Video Heaven and the Madison Public Library System. A couple of notes: 1) Fast Company, Cronenberg’s film about drag racing (it’s true), is streaming as well, but the link below is for a DVD of the film, which includes two of Cronenberg’s earliest short films for those who are interested. 2) Please note that the link to Shivers, listed below by its original US release title (They Came from Within),is currently only available in a Region 2 DVD.
Even more happily, as I mentioned earlier, the UW Cinematheque will be showing three of his pictures in glorious 35mm this semester. The horrifying Dead Ringers kicks off the series on Thursday. Then, on October 23, Cronenberg’s inimitable masterpiece Videodrome can serve as the ideal primer for your scary movie season. Finally, on November 20, Cinematheque is offering eXistenZ, a film ripe for reassessment. All screenings start at 7:00pm, and all are located at the Chazen Art Museum.
In short, if you are adventurous of mind and strong of stomach, I can’t recommend Cronenberg’s films enough. Attend the Cinematheque screenings, stream/rent the rest, and be sure to share your thoughts on any or all of the films in the comments section.
Edit 10/7/14: Cronenberg’s Shivers / They Came from Within (1975) has been added to Netflix Watch Instantly.
Press Release
The Festival has become a major cultural event with important international exhibitions and encounters
David Cronenberg at the 11th Lucca Film Festival
The complete retrospective of the Canadian director’s films will be presented together with several exhibitions
Canadian director, screenwriter, producer and actor David Cronenberg will be the guest star at the 11th Lucca Film Festival, taking place from the 15th to 21st of March 2015 in the Tuscan city of Lucca. The event dedicated to the author of cult-films such as Videodrome, The Fly, along with most recent works like A History of Violence and Cosmopolis, will open February 15 and run until May 3, with international exhibitions, including an Italian premiere, presented in various locations.
The Festival is one of the key events organized and sponsored by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca. The exhibits dedicated to Cronenberg are organized in collaboration with the “Comitato Nuovi Eventi per Lucca” and with the support of Banca Pictet and Société Générale. The Lucca Film Festival also enjoys the support of the Banca Generali Private Banking, the Region of Tuscany, the City of Lucca, the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, and the collaboration of the Province of Lucca, the Fondazione Sistema Toscana, the Fondazione Centro Arti Visive and the Photolux Festival. The event is held under the patronage of MiBACT, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism.
David Cronenberg will be in Lucca during the Film Festival in March to take part in screenings, public events, conferences and concerts dedicated to the scores from his films, a program produced in collaboration with the Toronto International Film Festival and Volumina (Torino). Tickets for each event will soon be available and can be booked online at the Festival’s website. (www.luccafilmfestival.it)
“Following our success last year with David Lynch as guest star, Lucca Film Festival is growing exponentially and is well on its way to becoming a major cinematographic event in Italy and beyond: a cultural event of international prestige that links Winter and Spring” states Nicola Borrelli, President of the Festival.
Cronenberg’s following feature films will be screened: Stereo (1969); Crimes of the Future (1970); Shivers (1975); Rabid (1977); Fast Company (1979); The Brood (1979); Scanners (1981); Videodrome (1983); The Dead Zone (1983). The Fly (1986); Dead Ringers (1988); Naked Lunch (1991); M. Butterfly (1993); Crash (1996); eXistenZ (1999); Spider (2002); A History of Violence (2005); Eastern Promises (2007); A Dangerous Method (2011); Cosmopolis (2012) and Maps to the Stars (2014).
Lucca Film Festival is an annual event that celebrates cinematic culture. The Festival is able to engage an ever-growing public through screenings, exhibitions, conferences and performances, which range from mainstream to experimental cinema.
Throughout its history, Lucca Film Festival has excelled thanks to its ambitious and well-researched programming. The Festival has paid tribute to celebrated figures in the cinema world while at the same time rediscovering other notable names and identifying up-and-coming talents. The beautiful city of Lucca contributes to the Festival’s appeal, serving as the backdrop to an event that has become a much awaited and not-to-be-missed happening.
http://www.luccafilmfestival.it/
Lucca Film Festival (main office: via delle Tagliate II°, traversa I°, n 64 55100 Lucca); segreteria.lff@gmail.com
Press Office: PS Comunicazione di Antonio Pirozzi; pscomunicazione@gmail.com; 339/5238132
Davis & Franceschini – Lea Codognato/Caterina Briganti – tel. 055/2347273 (info@davisefranceschini.it)
Comunicazione e Relazioni esterne Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca: Marcello Petrozziello (0583 472627; 340 6550425); comunicazione@fondazionecarilucca.
English: Tessa Wiechmann
11th Edition
LUCCA FILM FESTIVAL 2015
presents
David Cronenberg exhibitions
Evolution. Lucca / Fondazione Ragghianti
Trailer: http://youtu.be/Q_tnWs_MT50
M. Butterfly. Lucca / Puccini Museum – Birthplace
Red Cars. Lucca / State Archives (ex-Macelli area)
Trailer: http://youtu.be/3KkhaEi9ByE
Chromosomes. Viareggio / GAMC Galleria Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
Trailer: http://youtu.be/3KkhaEi9ByE
From Sunday, 15 February to Sunday, 3 May 2015
Press Release
The 11th edition of the Lucca Film Festival (March 15 to March
21) renders homage to one of the great masters of contemporary cinema, David Cronenberg, with a series of events that for three months will enliven the cities of Lucca and Viareggio, Italy. Starting this year, Lucca Film Festival joins forces with Viareggio’s festival Europa Cinema creating an event that is unique in Italy.
Thanks to the crucial support of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca, the opening of three international exhibitions on Sunday, 15 February 2015 will mark the official inauguration of the Contemporary Art in Viareggio will host Chromosomes. The exhibit curated by Domenico De Gaetano and by Alessandro Romanini will highlight 70 frames chosen by Cronenberg himself from his most famous films. Frames that have now become icons of contemporary art.
David Cronenberg will partecipate the Film Festival taking place in the Tuscan city from March 15 to March 21, 2015. The Canadian Director will not be able to attend the Festival physically due to serious personal issues, but he will participate by skype in public talks, conferences and concerts dedicated to the scores from his films. The program has been developed in collaboration with the Toronto International Film Festival and with Volumina.
Starting with the 2015 edition and for the next three years, the Lucca Film Festival will also organize the festival Europa Cinema in collaboration with the Municipality of Viareggio. This glorious international event was founded in 1984 by Federico Fellini and Felice Laudadio based on a shared program distributed both territories. The joint organization of a single Festival held on the same days will strengthen both events, making the organization more efficient, cutting costs, and ensuring an overall wider cultural reach and media coverage of the Festival.
The Lucca Film Festival directed by Nicola Borrelli is one of the key events organized and sponsored by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca. The exhibits dedicated to Cronenberg are organized in collaboration with the Comitato Nuovi Eventi per Lucca with the support of Banca Pictet and Société Générale.
The Festival also enjoys the support of Banca Generali Private Banking, the Region of Tuscany, the City of Lucca, the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, with the collaboration of the Province of Lucca, the Fondazione Sistema Toscana, the Fondazione Giacomo Puccini and Puccini Museum – Casa Natale, the Fondazione Centro Arti Visive, CG Entertainment and the Photolux Festival. The event is held under the patronage of MiBACT, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism.Starting with the 2015 edition and for the next three years, the Lucca Film Festival will also organize the festival Europa Cinema in collaboration with the Municipality of Viareggio. This glorious international event was founded in 1984 by Federico Fellini and Felice Laudadio based on a shared program distributed both territories. The joint organization of a single Festival held on the same days will strengthen both events, making the organization more efficient, cutting costs, and ensuring an overall wider cultural reach and media coverage of the Festival.
The undisputed master of contemporary cinema David Cronenberg was born in Toronto in 1943. In the 70s, he directed films like The Brood (1979) and Scanners (1981), which consecrated him as one of the Masters of cinema. From Videodrome (1982) to Dead Ringers (1988), Cronenberg’s films explore the terror man experiences when confronted with the genetic mutation of bodies, the infection of both psychological and physical flesh and the destructive impulses of the mind. After the success of Crash at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996, and of Spider (2002), the Canadian filmmaker faces more challenging productions like A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007). At the same time, he develops a series of extra-cinematographic projects, such as the opera The Fly, based 1986 film, on stage in Paris and Los Angeles in 2008. His latest films, from A Dangerous Method (2011) and Cosmopolis (2012) to Maps to the Stars in 2014 were widely acclaimed by audience and critics.
The Exhibitions
EVOLUTION
Lucca / Fondazione Ragghianti
Lucca Film Festival presents in a national premiere Evolution, the exhibit dedicated to the filmmaking career of the great Canadian artist. Created by the Toronto International Film Festival and curated by TIFF director, Piers Handling and by Noah Cowan, Evolution first opened in Toronto in 2013.
Through Cronenberg’s inventions, the exhibition explores the possible psychological and physical evolutionary paths of Man in a journey from the telepaths of Scanners to The Fly’s scientist, from Videodrome’s television producer to the twin doctors in Dead Ringers. Evolution chronologically traces Cronenberg’s career evolution as a filmmaker through more than a hundred original artifacts from his film sets, props, video interviews, film clips, never seen before movies and rare photographs from behind the scenes. The early influence of Canadian sociologist Marshall McLuhan is evident in films like Videodrome (1983), Cronenberg’s infatuation for the human body and for technology is unmistakable in eXistenZ (1999) and his growing interest in psychology is undisputable in A History of Violence (2005), in Spider and in Cosmopolis.
Evolution also features an exquisite companion catalogue to the exhibition and a deluxe boxed-set that includes the catalogue, a DVD of Cronenberg’s latest short film The Nest and a limited edition print signed by the Canadian filmmaker.
M. BUTTERFLY (detached section of the exhibit Evolution)
Lucca / Puccini Museum – Birthplace
Evolution will feature a special detached section of the exhibit hosted by the Puccini Museum – the Maestro’s Birthplace with a room dedicated to M. Butterfly, the film directed by Cronenberg in 1993 starring Jeremy Irons in a masterful interpretation. Giacomo Puccini’s birthplace is undoubtedly the perfect setting to house the spectacular props and costumes from the movie’s set alongside the memorabilia and precious autographs regarding Madame Butterfly that the museum already showcases. Once again, the parallelisms between the opera’s tragic story and the vicissitudes of the film’s protagonist present themselves thanks to Cronenberg’s talent and to his skillful use of Giacomo Puccini’s music.
RED CARS
Lucca / State Archives (ex-Macelli)
Cronenberg wrote the screenplay Red Cars, immediately after Crash (1996) with the intention of turning it into a movie. Produced by Warner Bros, with Mel Gibson starring as the protagonist, the film was never made. In 2005, the film project was presented as an artist’s book published by Volumina, at the 62nd Venice Film Festival. In 2008, Red Cars was presented at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome as a multimedia installation.
The volume contains the complete script for the yet-to-be-made movie and narrates the story of the 1961 Formula One Championship rivalry between two pilots, American Phil Hill and German Wolfgang von Trips. Red Cars is actually a tribute to the Ferrari 156 F1, a car that became a legend in racing and that was nicknamed “Sharknose” because of its distinctive shark-shaped nose. A car that both pilots were racing at the time. The book is meticulously designed to represent the body and the engine of a car and contains rare historical photographs taken from the Ferrari archive, portraits of the main players, technical cut away views of the engines, racing circuit tracks and photographs of many details. All packaged following a graphic design based on car magazines of the 60s.At the State Archive of Lucca, Red Cars will be visible in its multimedia installation form, curated by Domenico de Gaetano, director of Volumina, and by Alessandro Romanini. The history of Hill and Von Trips is told through images, words and video in an atmosphere that evokes abstract painting and pop art. Visitors will be able to purchase the object-book Red Cars, a true work of art along with a Ferrari model that has been exclusively produced for the occasion by Brumm.CHROMOSOMES
Viareggio / GAMC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
Chromosomes will be hosted in Viareggio at GAMC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art). Created by Volumina of Torino, this exhibit marked the international debut of David Cronenberg as a “pure artist”. The exhibition, curated here by Domenico de Gaetano and Alessandro Romanini, features 70 still frames chosen by the Canadian director from his most famous films: The Fly, Videodrome, Dead Ringers, Spider and Eastern Promises.
The frames were captured in the laboratories of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (the Experimental Cinema Centre) then digitally processed by Volumina’s team of graphic experts under Cronenberg’s supervision and finally printed on canvas using innovative techniques, bringing the images to a new life beyond the movie screen.
The overall goal is to distance these images as much as possible from their cinematic origin. Some frames are recognizable icons from Cronenberg’s films, images that never cease to amaze us. The exploding head, the mutant arm with a gun, the arcane gynecological instruments, the teleport transmission booth or the hand that is sensuously caressing the body of a car. Other frames, instead, revolve around the Canadian director’s vision that is more personal or around different themes of the exhibition. The relationship between body and technology, between cinema and art, between nature and genetic modifications, between videogames and science. The exhibition is completed by a video installation for two monitors showing the sequences of his most famous films.
The Chromosomes catalogue features comments on Cronenberg’s poetic art written by the main protagonists of the worlds of culture and science. Contributors such as composer Howard Shore, writer William Gibson, geneticist Marcello Buiatti, designer Giorgetto Giuagiaro, curator and art critic Hans Ulrich Obrist, actor Viggo Mortensen along with many others.
Opening Hours & Tickets
EVOLUTION & RED CARS
EVOLUTION Lucca / Fondazione Ragghianti
Via San Micheletto, 3 Lucca- tel. + 39 3280150111 – segreteria.lff@gmail.com
RED CARS Lucca / State Archives (ex-Macelli)
Via Pubblici Macelli, 155 Lucca
Opening Hours: 10 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 7 pm for both exhibitions – closed on Tuesdays
Tickets: ticket for both Evolution & Red Cars: full price € 7,00 – reduced price € 5.00
Tickets also available for purchase on http://www.luccafilmfestival.it
M. BUTTERFLY
Lucca / Puccini Museum – Birthplace
Corte San Lorenzo, 9 Lucca – tel. +39 0583 584028 – info@puccinimuseum.it
Opening Hours:
Until March 30 from 10 am to 1 pm – Fridays from 10 am to 4 pm – Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 6pm – closed on Tuesdays
During the week of the Lucca Film Festival open from 10 am to 6 pm – closed on Tuesdays
Starting April 1 from 10 am to 6 pm – Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 7 pm. No closing day
Tickets: € 3.00 with a single ticket to Evolution & Red Cars
CHROMOSOMES
Viareggio / GAMC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea “L.Viani”
Palazzo delle Muse, Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini Viareggio- tel. +39 0584 581118- gamc@comune.viareggio.lu.it
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm – closed on Mondays
Tickets: € 4.00 with a single ticket to Evolution & Red Cars
Reduced Tickets – Visitors entitled to discounted tickets: visitors under 18, over 65, groups of 10 or more people, college students, ticket holders to the Puccini Museum, ticket holders to GAMC, holders of a Festival day pass or of a pass for the entire the Festival, visitors arriving by train in Lucca in possession of a Trenitalia travel ticket or a pass purchased during the period of the exhibitions, Trenitalia smart card holders, holders a movie tickets purchased during the period of the exhibitions at the Cinema Centrale, Eden and Goldoni in Viareggio, at the cinema Astra, Moderno and Centrale in Lucca or at the Cinema Lanteri in Pisa, members of Lucca film clubs and cineforum UICC, CINIT, FEDIC, FIC).Free entry – Visitors entitled to free entry: children under 6 years of age, disabled visitors and their accompaniers, journalists exhibiting identification, group guides).
Info:
Lucca Film Festival – via delle Tagliate II°, traversa I°, n 64 55100 Lucca – segreteria.lff@gmail.com. http://www.luccafilmfestival.it
Lucca Film Festival Press Office
PS Communication Antonio Pirozzi – + 39 339/5238132
Davis & Franceschini – Lea Codognato / Caterina Briganti – tel. + 39 055/2347273
info@davisefranceschini.it – http://www.davisefranceschini.it
English: Tessa Wiechmann
External Relations Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca
PRESS RELEASE
Tribute to David Cronenberg
the complete retrospective of the Canadian Director’s films and three international exhibitions
Jeremy Irons, Terry Gilliam, Alfonso Cuarón and Matteo Garrone at the Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema 2015
From the 15th to 22nd of March 2015 retrospectives, film classes and conversations with international authors
The experimental Italian filmmaker Roberto Nanni will also be a guest star at the Festival
Grand finale with the third edition of Lucca Effetto Cinema Notte
Jeremy Irons, Terry Gilliam, Alfonso Cuarón and Matteo Garrone will be the guests of honor of the 11th Edition of the Lucca Film Festival, which will take place in the Tuscan city and in Viareggio from Sunday 15 March to Sunday 22 March 2015. The festival will pay tribute to each guest with screenings of their works, film masterclasses and gala evenings. This year’s edition of the festival celebrates Canadian director David Cronenberg who will be unable to attend in person due to personal matters but who will be present via Skype at several encounters. The tribute encompasses a complete retrospective of his films, three exhibitions and a concert in which some of his films’ most beautiful soundtracks will be performed. Among the scheduled events, a tribute to Roberto Nanni, the Italian experimental cinema director and a day dedicated to Italian filmmaker Mario Monicelli to celebrate the centennial of his birth and the acclaimed International Short Film Contest. The festival will close with Lucca Effetto Cinema Notte, a night where city becomes a real outdoor movie set. Events taking place in Viareggio are part of the initiatives organized by Europa Cinema, which this year has joined forces with the Lucca Film Festival.
The Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema directed by Nicola Borrelli, is one of the key events organized and sponsored by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca. The exhibits dedicated to Cronenberg are organized in collaboration with the Comitato Nuovi Eventi per Lucca in collaboration with the festival and with the support of Banca Pictet and Société Générale. The Festival also enjoys the support of MiBACT (the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism), the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca. Gesam Gas & Luce SpA, Banca Generali Private Banking, the Region of Tuscany, the City of Lucca with the collaboration of the Province of Lucca, the Fondazione Sistema Toscana, the Fondazione Giacomo Puccini and Puccini Museum – Casa Natale, the Fondazione Centro Arti Visive, CG Entertainment and the Photolux Festival. Thanks are also due to Trenitalia Tuscany Regional Management for their collaboration.
International guests in Lucca: Gilliam, Cuarón and Irons
British director and screenwriter Terry Gilliam, the well-known member of the Monty Python comedy troupe, will inaugurate the 11th Edition of the Lucca Film Festival on Sunday, March 15 at 9 p.m. at the Cinema Moderno in Lucca. During the gala evening, the Festival will pay tribute to Gilliam with a Lifetime Achievement Award and screen his latest work The Zero Theorem, starring Oscar winning actor Christoph Waltz. Film critic Francesco Alò will introduce the evening. On Monday, March 16 at 11 a.m., Terry Gilliam will hold a film masterclass at the Teatro del Giglio with the participation of film critic Francesco Alò, Nicolas Condemi and Federico Salvetti, the Artistic Director of the Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema.
Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, director of films such as Gravity and of Y tu mamá también will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday, March 19 at 9 p.m. at the Cinema Moderno in Lucca. The award ceremony will be followed by the screening of Children of Men, the science fiction thriller film directed and co-written by Cuarón, starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore. Film critics Andrea Fornasiero and Claudio Bartolini will introduce the evening. In addition to a retrospective of the Mexican director’s films, on Friday 20 March at 11 a.m., Cuarón will hold a film masterclass at the Teatro del Giglio with the participation of Nicola Borrelli, Alessandro Romanini, Andrea Fornasiero and Claudio Bartolini.
The Gala evening dedicated to English actor Jeremy Irons will be held on Friday, March 20 at 9 p.m. at the Cinema Moderno in Lucca. After presenting Oscar winning actor with a Lifetime Achievement Award the evening will continue with the screening of M. Butterfly, one of the two films directed by David Cronenberg in which Jeremy Irons stars. On Saturday 21 March at 11 a.m., Irons will hold a film masterclass at the Teatro del Giglio, with the participation of film critic Claudio Carabba, Nicola Borrelli, Alessandro Romanini and Manrico Ferrucci, Director of the Teatro del Giglio of Lucca. That same day at 3 p.m. actress Sinéad Cusack will introduce the film Eastern Promises.
Guests in Viareggio: Matteo Garrone and Francesco Munzi. Tribute to Mario Monicelli
Events in the Tuscan seaside resort of Viareggio feature Francesco Munzi and Matteo Garrone as special guests.
Munzi will be at the Cinema Centrale in Viareggio on Friday, 20 March with his film Anime Nere (Black Souls) and on Saturday, 21 March at 11 a.m., the Italian director will hold a film masterclass at Villa Paolina. Garrone will be at the Cinema Eden in Viareggio on Sunday 22 March, at 8.30 p.m. where he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award and present his L’imbalsamatore (The Taxidermist). The evening will be introduced by journalist Gabriele Rizza and by Giulio Marlia, the Artistic Director of the Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema.
On the centennial of his birth, the festival has organized a tribute to the great Italian director and screenwriter Mario Monicelli. On Tuesday, 17 March two of the Maestro’s great masterpieces will be screened at the Cinema Centrale in Viareggio: La grande guerra (The Great War, 1959) and I compagni (The Organizer, 1963).
Tribute to David Cronenberg: film retrospective, exhibitions and a musical concert between Lucca and Viareggio
The Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema dedicates a complete retrospective of all films, as well as of five shorts, to David Cronenberg, director of cult films such as The Fly and Videodrome. In addition to the film tribute, visitors will be able to enjoy four international exhibitions, three in Lucca and one in Viareggio, which will be open to the public until Sunday, May 3rd 2015.
In a national premier, the Festival presents Evolution featuring more than one hundred original artifacts from Cronenberg’s film sets, props, video interviews, film clips, never seen before movies and rare photographs from behind the scenes that follow his filmmaking career. The exhibition was created by the Toronto International Film Festival, curated by Piers Handling (TIFF artistic director and CEO) and by Noah Cowan (the first TIFF Bell Lightbox artistic director) and is hosted by the Fondazione Ragghianti of Lucca. Also in Lucca, at the Puccini Museum – the Maestro’s Birthplace, a separate detached section of Evolution is dedicated to M.Butterfly, the Canadian director’s film set in Beijing that revolves around the famous opera by Puccini. The State Archives of Lucca hosts Red Cars, a multimedia installation dedicated to Ferrari and to the car-racing world curated by Domenico De Gaetano, director of the cultural association Volumina, and by Alessandro Romanini. This exhibit is inspired by the Canadian director’s screenplay for a movie that was never made, narrating the rivalry between the two Formula One drivers: Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips. The story unfolds through images, words and video in an atmosphere that evokes abstract painting and pop art. In Viareggio, the GAMC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art) hosts Chromosomes. The exhibition curated by Domenico De Gaetano and Alessandro Romanini and created by Volumina features 70 still frames chosen by the Canadian director from his most famous films. The frames were then captured in the laboratories of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (the Experimental Cinema Centre), digitally processed by Volumina’s team of graphic experts under Cronenberg’s supervision and finally printed on canvas using innovative techniques, bringing the images to a new life beyond the movie screen.
Not being able to attend the Festival in person, David Cronenberg will participate via Skype on Wednesday 18 March at 9 p.m. at the Cinema Centrale in Lucca. The Canadian Maestro will hold a film masterclass (via Skype) on Saturday 21 March at 5 p.m. once again at the Cinema Centrale. Claudio Bartolini, Domenico de Gaetano, Nicola Borrelli and Stefano Giorgi Artistic, director of the Festival, will also be present.
The Tribute to David Cronenberg continues on that same day, Saturday 21 March, at 6.30 p.m. with a concert held at the Church of San Francesco, featuring a selection of music from the Canadian director’s films. Young musicians from the Conservatorio Luigi Boccherini of Lucca conducted by Maestro Gianpaolo Mazzoli (Director of the Conservatory) will perform scores from many of Cronenberg’s works including M.Butterfly, Ringers and Eastern Promises.
The homage to Cronenberg also includes a fourth exhibition entirely dedicated to posters, fliers and rare playbills that retrace the Canadian director’s career throughout his filmography. The exhibition is curated by writer and collector Paul Zelati, one of the leading Italian critics of horror cinema and will be hosted from at the auditorium Fondazione Banca del Monte Lucca from Sunday 8 March to Sunday 22 March.
Tribute to Roberto Nanni
Lucca Film Festival has always reserved special attention to experimental cinema; and the 11th edition features a comprehensive retrospective of filmmaker Roberto Nanni, from his early works until the last film shot in 2014. Nanni has worked with nearly all formats and has delved into the technique of found footage, using existing video material, which is decontextualized and reedited to create a new product. This while working on the synthesis between audio and visual languages. In his thirty-year career, Roberto Nanni has collaborated with musicians and filmmakers such as Steven Brown and Tuxedomoon, Derek Jarman, Gabriele Panico and Oren Ambarchi. All films in the section dedicated to Nanni will be shown in a new digital format made by the author specifically for the Lucca Film Festival stemming from the original materials in various film formats, analog and digital video. In addition to the retrospective, the tribute to Roberto Nanni includes a concert during which the composer Gabriele Panic will perform live music he composed for three works by the Italian filmmaker. The concert will take place on Wednesday 18 March at 10 p.m. at the Sala degli Affreschi of the Complesso di San Micheletto.
International Short Film Contest
The international contest features twenty-six short films in competition. Among the selected filmmakers Alessandro Amaducci, the well-known Italian video artist from Turin and Nicolas Provost, the internationally renowned Belgian director and visual artist. This section will also focus on Korean experimental cinema, with a series of animated short films. Academy-Award nominee Graham Greene stars in the short film directed by Ray Arthur Wang. The International Jury is composed by Mason Shefa, a young American experimental filmmaker, by Cynthia Tompkins, a professor at Arizona State University, by Francesco Alò, Italian journalist and film critic and by Antoni Pinent, the Spanish filmmaker who has competed in the Festival several times. The Award Ceremony will be held at the Cinema Moderno on Friday, 20 March at 9 p.m.
Lucca Effetto Cinema Notte (Saturday, 21 March)
The third edition of Lucca Effetto Cinema Notte will take place on Saturday 21 March and mark the end of the 11th edition of the Lucca Film Festival. Lucca will be transformed entire into an outdoor movie. The Tuscan city will be divided into ten areas, each with its own theme inspired by different movie genres. The 43 locations will be set up to reflect the reference film. The project is created by Stefano Giuntini for Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca.
Tickets: Single-day Ticket (including film masterclasses and gala evening): € 10 / reduced € 7; Full Festival Ticket (including film masterclasses and gala evenings): 25 € / reduced € 20; Single film masterclass or single gala evening: 5 € / reduced 3 €; Viareggio single-day ticket for 16, 17, 20 and 22 March 5 €.; Concerts 1,5 €.
Information http://www.luccafilmfestival.it
Press Office Lucca Film Festival (Antonio Pirozzi +39-3395238132; Olimpia De Meo +39-3200404080 and +39-3392439292 Francesca Corpaci) English: Tessa Wiechmann; Davis & Franceschini – Lea Codognato / Caterina Briganti – tel. +39-(0)552347273 (info@davisefranceschini.it); External Relations Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca: Marcello Petrozziello (+39-(0)583472627; +39-340 6550425); communication@fondazionecarilucca