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Forgetting Dad The Friends at the Margherita Café (Gli amici del bar Margherita)
USA / GERMANY
In this deeply personal documentary, cowriter/codirector Rick Minnich
ITALY
Bologna, 1954. Taddeo, a young man of 18 whom everyone calls Kid,
Directors: Rick Minnich, explores the most painful event of his childhood: the loss of his father, Director: Pupi Avati dreams of becoming one of the regulars of the mythical Margherita
Matt Sweetwood
Richard, to amnesia. A hybrid of detective story and autobiography, it
Producers: Antonio Avati, Pupi Avati Café, located under the portico across from his family’s home. Through
Producer: Olaf Jacobs
takes as its starting point a minor traffic accident, occurring shortly after
Screenwriter: Pupi Avati
a ploy, he manages to get work as the chauffeur for Al, the neighbor-
Screenwriters: Rick Minnich, Rick’s college graduation, in which Richard was rear-ended. A week
Cinematographer: Pasquale Rachini
hood’s most glamorous and mysterious resident. Having been taken
Matt Sweetwood
later, he suddenly seemed to have lost all memory of his own past – and under Al’s wing, Taddeo gets to witness the adventures of Bep, who is
MS: A to Z
Editor: Amedeo Salfa
Editor: Matt Sweetwood
soon left his family to go off and create a new life. in love with Marcella the entraineuse; the trials and tribulations of Gian,
MS: A to Z
il
Cast: Diego Abatantuono,
2008 / color / 84 min.
Laura Chiatti, Luigi Lo Cascio,
an aspiring singer and the victim of a horrible practical joke; the crazy
il
Minnich plans to explore his father’s recovery as the triumph of a
Fabio De Luigi, Luisa Ranieri behavior of Manuelo, a small-time robber with a sex phobia; the mean-
E F
literally self-made man. But as filming progresses, and his initially ness of Zanchi, inventor of the elastic necktie; and the bizarre manias of
E F
h
2009 / color / 90 min.
h
T riCK MinniCh
enthusiastic father and stepmother withdraw from the project, he Sarti, a ballroom dancing champion who wears his tux day and night.
T
Rick Minnich grew up in Kansas, begins investigating the facts surrounding the case and decides to turn And Taddeo’s home life is no less out of the ordinary, considering his
Arizona, and California and graduated
the camera instead on himself and the rest of his family, opening up old
from Columbia University. He then
PuPi aVaTi
mother is being led on by the family physician while his grandfather has
wounds to examine the impact of his father’s abandonment on their
moved to Berlin, studying directing
Born in 1938 in Bologna, Italy, Pupi
fallen head over heels for a well-built piano teacher.
lives. In the process, he makes startling discoveries that raise a painful
at the Film and Television Academy
Avati developed a passion for jazz after
Konrad Wolf. His films have been shown
question: is his father truly the victim of a neurological injury – as he
studying political science at Bologna
With The Friends at the Margherita Café, Bologna-born director
throughout Europe; Forgetting Dad is
claims despite doctors’ diagnoses to the contrary – or has his amnesia
University. He entered the film industry
Pupi Avati marks his return to the Starz Denver Film Festival; A Heart
his third feature-length documentary. been a hoax, the brainchild of a man willfully leaving his old life behind?
in 1968 with his first film, Blood
Elsewhere screened at SDFF 26.
Relations. A versatile filmmaker, Avati
Poignantly recreating the past via home movie clips and sometimes
Filmography
has had success in a range of genres,
tense, probing interviews, Minnich captures moving instants of revela-
from horror and period dramas to
Homemade Hillbilly Jam (2005)
comedy and jazz biopics. He has been
Good Guys and Bad Guys (1997)
tion right before the camera.
compared to Federico Fellini for his
Minnich – who spent ten years in Germany studying film – undertook
almost surreal sensibilities.
MaTT SWEETWooD
the project with cocreator Matt Sweetwood as a means to maintain per-
Selected Filmography
Currently living in Potsdam, Germany,
spective on his highly charged material. This is Minnich’s third feature-
Giovanna’s Father (2008)
Matt Sweetwood studied film at length documentary and his second collaboration with Sweetwood. A Dinner for Them to Meet (2007)
California State University – San Christmas Rematch (2004)
Diego. An experienced screenwriter Magnificat (1993)
and director in both Germany and
Sponsored by:
The Story of Boys and Girls (1989)
the United States, Sweetwood has Revenge of the Dead (1983)
also edited several documentaries.
Forgetting Dad is his first feature film.
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