A Classic Montage

by Valeria Chiari

26/09/2002 - Footage by Visconti, Rossellini and Antonioni in Dietro il paesaggio to celebrate Euro-pean Cultural Heritage Days

“Poetry of the past to dream of the future.” That is how Carmelo Rocca, the secretary-general at the Italian Ministry for Culture, presented Dietro il paesaggio (Beyond the panorama), the film at the centre of a special event organised by ItaliaCinema for the European Heritage Days scheduled for 28 and 29 September. “This two day event is dedicated to our cultural heritage and there could be no better way of celebrating,” added Marina Cicogna, the president of the agency that promotes Italian cinema. “Italian film was often great and talented and I hope it will be that in the future again.”
The film will be presented on 28 September in Rome’s new Auditorium, before a Vip audience lead by the Italian President, and contemporaneously in almost every region of Italy in the superintendencies that adhered to the project. The film is a montage by Carmelo Marabello and made up of footage directed by three of Italy’s most important directors, Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini and Michelangelo Antonioni. Footage is from 47 classic films that include Anima nera, Morte a Venezia, Cronaca di un amore, Ossessione, Viaggio in Italia. They were made available by the National Film Archive. “I chose the three Italian directors who best represented the Italian panorama,” said Marabello. “Not only in the way they portrayed the natural beauty of Italy, but also through the bodies of the protagonists. Rossellini the realist, Visconti the romanticand Antonioni the composer.”
”This is a very exciting film,” said Gabriele Lavia, who together with Jeanne Moreau will make a keynote speech at the screening. The actor and director will read some comments made by the three Italian directors as well as excerpts form Stendhal’s “Journey in Italy”. “I never made a film with either Visconti or Antonioni or said a line in one of Rossellini’s, but I could not allow myself to miss the opportunity to take part in such an important event, and above all, I could not say ‘no’ to Marina Cicogna.”