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/ OFF CONTEST 2016 /

BODY&GARMENT

FASHION IN THE ITALIAN EXPERIMENTAL FILMS OF THE 60’S.

Curated by Archivio Nazionale Cinema d’Impresa and Cineteca Nazionale – Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
In collaboration with Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino, Promovideo – Andrea Piccardo, Maurizio Corraini SRL, Ugo Nespolo, Archivio Franco Angeli, Archivio Mario Schifano.

Italian experimental cinema arises in the second half of the 60’s thanks to a group of young filmmakers who were influenced by New American Cinema and acted against the entertainment production system, to create a cinema that could be a true expression of their dreams and desires. They changed the filming technique, for example shooting short films without the camera or expanding the image beyond the screen, as in the works of Tonino De Bernardi.

In this way cinema becomes an extension of the filmmakers’ subjectivity, shooting their “private diaries” and bringing their unconscious ghosts on the screen.

The movement started to involve poetry, performances, music, representation and many different artists: Mario Schifano, who transforms the NY studio of a fashion photographer into a pop scene (Reflex, 1964); Marcello Piccardo and Bruno Munari, who use cinema for a wider reasearch on man and his expressions, and Ugo Nespolo, who uses cinema for his new dada acts.

BODY&GARMENT is a selection created on the occasion of the third edition of Fashion Film Festival Milano which opens a window onto fashion, in a dialogue between dressing and the naked body, between the woman as subject and as object.

FFFMilano presents it in its programme to express the connection between this kind of experimental cinema and fashion films.

Schifano, Nespolo, Munari and many others who are the fathers of our communication, presented fashion on screen through a research on film language, preparing the path that many young filmmakers – some of them in competition at the festival – are now following.

Programme

REFLEX, by Mario Schifano (1964, 8’). Shot by Schifano in the NY studio of renowned fashion photographer Bob Richardson. The film anticipates Antonioni’s Blow-Up, in theatres two years later.

ANNA by Mario Schifano (1967, 12’)

FOTOGRAFO by Mario Schifano (1967, 3’)

LE GOTE IN FIAMME, by Ugo Nespolo (1967, 2′). «This film was my first attempt in magical poetry; the result is a rich cotillon for refined eyes, made of unreal colors and distorted movement. The story is just about the misterious appearence of a girl in the wood; she walks rolling a white parasol and then starts to change her clothing (more than 100 dresses), in a wild whirlwind of colors and movements» (U. Nespolo)

PIÙ by Claudio Cintoli (1964, 10′)

SULLE SCALE MOBILI (LA RINASCENTE) by Bruno Munari and Marcello Piccardo (1964, 13′). A research film about the attitude of the clients on the escalator in a department store. It’s shot through a fixed hidden camera, with normal light. The regular movement of the elevator facilitates the freedom of expression and a more careful observation in the audience.

MODELLING by Vittorio Armentano (1966, 16’). The beauty of a model takes shape in front of the camera, a reflection of her narcissism, suggested by the mirrors and the relation between music and movement.

[ATTUALITÀ] by Franco Angeli (1967, 16′)

LA SOLITUDINE FEMMINILE by Giosetta Fioroni (1967, 7’)