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THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
01/09/2007
Master filmmaker Carlo Lizzani’s long journey through cinema, as captured in the biographical documentary Viaggio in corso nel cinema di Carlo Lizzani by Francesca Del Sette, made its first “stop” yesterday in Venice Days.
Presented by noted film critic and long-time friend of Lizzani’s, Tatti Sanguineti, what is immediately striking about the documentary is the warmth and enthusiasm with which all of the interviewees speak of the director, from actors such as Giancarlo Giannini and Franco Nero to Nobel prize winner Dario Fo.
Although he himself has made documentaries on directors such as Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rossellini (alongside whom he began his career as an assistant director), Lizzani says he was very moved to see the film, to see his life recounted, yet despite the wealth of material covered (including a never before seen “making of,” found in Australia, of Attention! Bandits!), he also feels there is so much more to say, and so many more people and events to speak of.
Journalist turned filmmaker Del Sette says getting people to sing Lizzani’s praises was the easy part, and she shot over 40 hours of interview material alone. What was difficult, however, was obtaining the archive footage of the films included, most of which were in the hands of “bandit” rights-holders, according to Lizzani: “That’s what they are, true bandits, a la Provenzano. There was one in particular one that made me think that at my age I’d only get house arrest so I’ll kill him!”
Lizzani’s humor is one of the reasons why Del Sette insists that the 85 year-old director is not elderly, but “simultaneously young in spirit and ancient, in terms of all of his cultural and historical knowledge, which he pours into works that are a direct reflection of his being.” Her structural choice, to use flash forwards in the documentary, reflects this as well, as “everything that Carlo spoke of in his films came to pass in Italy, culturally and politically.”
A work in progress until recently – Sanguineti pointed out that it continued to change form numerous times until the very end – this journey through the life of a remarkable man is also a portrait of one of the last remaining “bridges” between Italian cinema of today and yesterday – which shaped filmmakers worldwide for generations to come.
Natasha Senjanovic
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