Maria & Tommaso Maglione italian Stan Brakhage Vision award:
Filmmaker award: Gianni di Gregorio Ernie Gehr
Gianni di Gregorio was born in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome, Here’s the first story I ever heard about Ernie Gehr: before shooting any film,
where he still lives and works. He fell in love with cinema when he was he’d walk around New York City with a light meter for six months, cross-
a child, spending his mornings at school and his afternoons in the local checking the readings against his own perception (and shifts in perception)
cinemas – sometimes watching up to three films a day. until he just knew what the film exposure should be.
After studying classics in high school, he went to university to study Or maybe it was 12 months. You know how these stories go. Another account
literature, but before graduating he dropped out and ended up instead has Ernie settling for a light meter simply because all the cameras from the
The Maria & Tommaso Maglione Selected Filmography
at the Accademia di Arti Sceniche in Rome, run by Alessandro Fersen,
Italian Filmmaker Award, funded
Cotton Candy (2002)
Millennium Film Workshop were out on loan; that version encapsulates the
where he took a diploma in directing and acting. After three years
through an endowment from the
For Daniel (1996)
timeless struggle of the young, starving artist to shape hardship into craft by
working in theatre, he saw Scorsese’s film Mean Streets, which made Side/Walk/Shuttle (1992) sheer strength of will and discipline.
Anna & John J. Sie Foundation
such an impression on him that he left the stage and started to work in
Mirage (1981)
and named for Anna Sie’s parents,
film as an assistant director. He then moved into screenwriting.
Table (1976)
Either way, the point is that a companionable acquaintance with light is basic
recognizes emerging Italian Eureka (1974) to filmmaking, and Ernie Gehr seems to have known that from the start. How
filmmakers. In 1986, he wrote the screenplay for Sembra morto ma è solo svenuto,
Serene Velocity (1970)
did he know it? Here’s the second story I ever heard about him, dating back
Reverberation (1969)
The 2009 award goes to
directed by Felice Farina, which won the Premio FRIPRESCI at the to his pre-filmmaking days. It took place on a rainy day in New York, a day so
Gianni di Gregorio for
Settimana della Critica during the 1987 Venice Film Festival. In the dark with mythopoeic foreshadowing that even the novice Ernie Gehr would
Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di
same year, he wrote the story and screenplay for Marco Colli’s Carefree have known that an exposure value of 1.4 might not be light enough: simply
Ferragosto).
Giovanni (Giovanni senzapensieri). Presented at the Quinzaine des put, he was caught in a downpour. He took shelter in a building that housed a
Realizateurs at Cannes, it was awarded the Gran Prix du Jury in Annecy. basement theater, the Filmmakers Cinematheque. He decided to wait out the
Meeting Matteo Garrone upon the release of the latter’s first film,
storm by watching a film, and that film happened to be by Stan Brakhage –
Middle Earth (Terra di Mezzo), di Gregorio started working as Garrone’s
the man the Stan Brakhage Vision Award is named for. A rainy day, a baptism
assistant director, first on Roman Summer in 2000, then on The
of light, a changed life: it sounds like a good old Hollywood biopic.
Embalmer (L’imbalsamatore) and First Love (Primo amore). In 2007, he Now, after some 40 years of masterpieces (using just the right exposure), Ernie
cowrote the screenplay for the film Gomorrah, which Garrone directed. Gehr is among the most honored of film artists all over the world. His work
has inspired some of the best writing from the best writers about film. But see
Sponsored by:
Mid-August Lunch is di Gregorio’s directorial debut.
Special thanks:
the films before you read their analyses, however brilliant and accurate. Take
BrIT WIThey
lightly even my own overconcentrated description of the sort of thing an Ernie
Gehr film is likely to be about: in the evolution of language – of our system
The advisory group for the 2009 festival includes a judging committee composed of
of naming things – images and thoughts have become so closely linked that,
four members of the Italian film community. They assisted the Denver Film Society’s when one brushes against the other, we understand the moment as a sort
programming staff in choosing the finalists for the award.
of pun, a double meaning that, transcending word play, often seems to arise
AlbERTO bARbERA, director of the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, Italy, and from some mysterious biological fact. The phrase “shift in perception” may
chairman of the Turin Film Festival
refer to the optical and the mental alike – especially in the case of an Ernie
giUSEppE bRUNO bOSSiO, director of promofest, dedicated to promoting Italian Gehr film. What most scholars fail to note is how much fun the mind can have
film in the United States
in the games of hide and seek Gehr’s work plays with it.
TERESA CAViNA, former artistic director of the Rome Film Festival; Cavina now
Come and “see” this for yourself.
helps program the Middle East International Film Festival
20
lORENZO CODElli, award-winning journalist for Postif and author of the
PhIL rOWe
21
International Film Guide’s annual survey of Italian film
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202