Lo schermo dell’arte Film Festival 8th edition

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17

Palazzo Strozzi – Strozzina
6:30 pm
EXHIBITION OPENING
VISIO. Next Generation Moving Images
The exhibition, curated by Leonardo Bigazzi, will present 12 works as an overview on the practice of a new generation of visual artists working with moving images in Europe.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18

Palazzo Strozzi – Strozzina
11:00 am – 8:00 pm
EXHIBITION
VISIO. Next Generation Moving Images

Cinema Odeon
9:00 pm
OPENING NIGHT
Francofonia by Alexandr Sokurov, France/Germany/The Netherlands, 2015, 87’
language: Russian, French, German; subtitles: English, Italian
In the presence of the distributor Alessandro Giacobbe.
After thirteen years, the director of Russian Ark returns to the theme of museums: Sokurov’s Louvre is a film on the value of culture, and its historical memory, through a look at one of its exemplary places, a symbol of Europe’s civil identity. The film, set during the Nazi occupation of Paris, tells of a meeting between museum director Jacques Jaujard and Count Franz Wolff-Metternich, the German officer responsible for the management of French cultural treasures; they decide to work together.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19

Palazzo Strozzi – Strozzina
11:00 am – 11:00 pm
EXHIBITION
VISIO. Next Generation Moving Images

Aula Magna Rettorato Università di Firenze
3:45 pm
FESTIVAL TALK
Runa Islam in conversation with Riccardo Venturi

Cinema Odeon
6:00 pm
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
Empty The Pond To Get The Fish  by Runa Islam, UK, 2008, sound, 12′ 8″
Pièce Unique  by Runa Islam, UK, 2012, sound, 3′ 20″
Italian Premiere in the presence of the artist
Two short films reveal the rigorous and poetic language of British artist Runa Islam. In Pièce Unique (2012) the director frames geometric and transparent lines animated by slow movements; in Empty the Pond To Get the Fish (2008) she uses the camera’s mechanical subjectivity to slowly reveal the image, thus subverting the cinematographic tradition based on narrative story.

6:30 pm
SGUARDI
Kasper König’s Address Book – Niele Toroni, Sophie Calle  by Corinna Belz, Germany, 2014, 26′
language: English, French, German; subtitles: English, Italian
Italian Premiere
Kasper König, famous international curator, built a vast network of relationships through constantly updating his address book of artists whom he supported and promoted. The director and König lead us on a trip through the creative universe of two artists and the private space of their ateliers: Niele Toroni and Sophie Calle.

7:00 pm
In collaboration with Careof and Sky Italia
Progetto ArteVisione 2013-2014 in the presence of the artists
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
San Siro  by Yuri Ancarani, Italy, 2014, sound, 26′
The film, set in a national institution, the San Siro Stadium in Milan, proposes a new interpretation of the football world, offering an upside-down point of view. At the center of the narration is the usually hidden reality of the workers, essential to the preparation of a football match.

Spectaculum  by Giuseppe Fanizza, Italy, 2014, sound, 12’ 27”
The author films a series of close-ups and portraits of groups of spectators, investigating their gazes and expressions while they’re enraptured by the screen. The intent is to create a reversal, an awareness of his own position in the spectator, who sees himself in mirror-reflection.

8:00 pm
SGUARDI
Preferisco lo stupore  by Andrea Barzini, Italy, 2015, sound, 10′
In the presence of the author
Two artists, sculptor Silvio Pasquarelli and filmmaker Andrea Barzini, while preparing a show for Galleria Andrè in Rome, discover with astonishment that during their collaboration, the work has taken a turn from the original idea, transforming itself into a separate piece on its own. Ironic and surreal, the film follows the process of the piece’s genesis.

9:00 pm
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
Quantum.  by Flatform, Italy, 2015, sound, 8’
This short film, directed by the Flatform collective, which works between Milan and Berlin, frames a typical Italian mountain landscape, shown as a miniature. Real-life footage undergoes the complex post-production which characterizes the group’s visual poetry. The soundtrack consists of the famous aria “Nessun Dorma” by Giacomo Puccini.

9:30 pm
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
In Waking Hours by Sarah Vanagt and Katrien Vanagt, Belgium, 2015, sound, 18′
Italian Premiere
Researcher Katrien Vanagt carries out an experiment in optics based on an antique medical treatise and transforms her kitchen in Brussels into a camera obscura in front of her amazed and delighted children, who take part. Filmmaker Sarah Vanagt records all the phases of this marvelous experience.

10:00 pm
SGUARDI
Thomas Hirschhorn – Gramsci Monument  by Angelo A. Lüdin, Swiss, 2015, 94’
language: English, Swiss, German; subtitles: English, Italian
Italian Premiere in the presence of the author
Gramsci Monument, an homage to an important 20th century philosopher, is the installation which Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn produced in the summer of 2013 in The Bronx, New York. Hirschhorn lived with the neighborhood’s residents for five months, facing their different realities and ethnicities to construct a monument destined to remain in the collective memory.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20

Palazzo Strozzi – Strozzina
11:00 am – 8:00 pm
EXHIBITION
VISIO. Next Generation Moving Images

Palazzo Strozzi – Strozzina
3:45 pm
FESTIVAL TALK
Round Table Feature Expanded: Audience Development & Exhibition
A round-table with a group of international curators and experts, intended to deepen understanding of new distribution models for films by artists, as well as the use of new technologies, to reach an increasingly diverse audience. In collaboration with HOME (Manchester).

Cinema Odeon
6:00 pm
SGUARDI
The Performer  by Maciej Sobieszczanski and Lukasz Ronduda, Poland, 2015, 63’
language: Polish; subtitles: English, Italian
Italian Premiere in the presence of Lukasz Ronduda
A glimpse into the world of Polish contemporary art, based on the life of celebrated artist Oskar Dawicki, who plays himself. Archival footage and pieces of cinematographic fiction describe his performances, up until the emblematic epilogue: the artist fakes his own death during one of his actions.

7:25 pm
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
Common assembly: deterritorializing the palestinian parliament  by DAAR, Palestine, 2011, 14′ 24″
language: English; subtitles: Italian
Video presentation of an architectural project by the Palestinian collective DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency): a study for the reconstruction of the Palestinian Parliament east of Jerusalem, starting with the events that led up to its abandonment.

7:45 pm
In collaboration with Careof and Sky Italia
Progetto ArteVisione 2013-2014 in the presence of the artists
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
Family Show  by Francesco Bertocco, Italy, 2013, 20′
language: Italian
Constructed of four sequences, introduced by captions that create a story, the film shows the behind-the-scenes action of the highly popular Reality Show X Factor, gathering testimonies as well as the expectations and emotions of parents who accompany their children to the program’s auditions.

Intervallo  by ZimmerFrei, Italy, 2013, sound, 14’ 30”
Starting with the old RAI test-pattern’s famous monoscope, ZimmerFrei constructs nine brief “intervals” filmed at TV network SKY’s headquarters, including: backstage of famous sets; workers’ breaks; data warehouse towers. The original music for the “Intervallo” breaks is substituted by a soundtrack recorded in situ which creates a  post-modern symphony.

9:00 pm
FOCUS ON Harun Farocki
Parallel I-IV, Germany, 2014, 45’
language: English; subtitles: Italian
Italian Premiere in the presence of Antje Ehmann in conversation with Erika Balsom
With Parallel I-IV, one of his last works, which was born as a video installation, Harun Farocki, one of the most influential and subversive German filmmakers, who died in July 2014, reflects on the influence of video games on the cinema, investigating the construction and rules of computerized animation and video games.

10:15 pm
SGUARDI
Frame by Frame by Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli, Afghanistan/USA, 2015, 85’
language: Dari, English; subtitles: English, Italian
Italian Premiere
During the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, before American troops arrived in 2001, taking pictures was considered a crime. The film tells the stories of four photographers who fought tenaciously, in extremely difficult situations, to re-build a free press in their country.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21

Palazzo Strozzi – Strozzina
11:00 am – 8:00 pm
EXHIBITION
VISIO. Next Generation Moving Images

Cinema Odeon
6:00 pm
HOMAGE TO MARTIAL RAYSSE
In collaboration with Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana
In the presence of the artist and Martin Bethenod

Portrait Électro Machin Chose, 1967, 9’, N/B
Camembert Martial Extra-Doux, 1969, 13’30, Couleur
Pig Music, 1971, 6’08, N/B
Intra Muros, 1977, 9’, N/B
Mon petit cœur, 1995, 40’’, Couleur
Ex-Voto, 2005, 3’14, Couleur

On the occasion of Martial Raysse’s major retrospective at Palazzo Grassi, a selection of six shorts produced by the artist between 1967 and 2005, curated by Martin Bethenod. Since the 60s, Raysse has accompanied his production of paintings, drawings and small sculptures with many experimental movies shot on film and, more recently, video, which show the libertarian impulses of his experiments with the use of color and editing.

7:15 pm
SGUARDI
Picturing Barbara Kruger  by Pippa Bianco, USA, 2014, 5′ 26”
language: English; subtitles: Italian
Prima italiana
Commissioned by the County Museum of Los Angeles, this short film is a portrait of artist/photographer Barbara Kruger, voice off in the film. In a few masterful minutes she talks about her work, habits and theories. Nicolas Jaar composed the soundtrack.

7:25 pm
SGUARDI
Richard Hamilton: In the Reflection of Marcel Duchamp  by Pascal Goblot, France, 2014, 53’
language: English; subtitles: Italian
In the presence of the author
The father of English Pop Art Richard Hamilton has dedicated part of his life to the study of the Large Glass, the emblematic work by Dada maestro Marcel Duchamp. Starting with interviews and unreleased materials, Pascal Goblot’s film explores their extraordinary relationship.

9:00 pm
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
The Show MAS Go On  by Rä di Martino, Italy, 2014, 30′
In the presence of the author
language: Italian; subtitles: English
The story of the Roman department store MAS (the acronym for Magazzini allo Statuto). A destination for a wide range of humanity, the setting for infinite micro-stories, MAS becomes the stage for a mix of the stories of clients and shopkeepers and the performances of the actors, including Filippo Timi, Iaia Forte, Sandra Ceccarelli and Maya Sansa.

9:45 pm
SGUARDI
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict  by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, USA, 2015, 90′
language: English; subtitles: Italian
Italian Premiere in the presence of the author
A portrait of Peggy Guggenheim, modern art’s most famous patron and collector. Exctracts from an interview conducted in the last years of her life intertwine with archival footage, including unpublished details of her relationships with artists, such as Samuel Beckett, Constantin Brancusi and Max Ernst.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22

Palazzo Strozzi – Strozzina
11:00 am – 8:00 pm
EXHIBITION
VISIO. Next Generation Moving Images

Cinema Odeon
6:00 pm
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
Tales of Us  by Oliver Pietsch, Germany, 2014, 28′
language: English; subtitles: Italian
Italian Premiere
The director explores the themes of desire, love and solidarity—the main episodes of life, from adolescence to middle age to old age—through a mix of excerpts from old Hollywood hit movies.

6:30 pm
SGUARDI
On the eccasion of the exhibition “Knight of the Night”, Galleria Il Ponte Firenze
Jan Fabre, Beyond The Artist  by Giulio Boato, France, 2014, 52’
language: French, English; subtitles: English, Italian
Performer, sculptor, choreographer, director, Jan Fabre is one of the most polymathic artists of our time. Through an interview which reveals the artist’s most intimate aspects, the director takes us into the heart of his creation, his workshop in his hometown, Antwerp: Troubleyn, an ex-theater which became a genuine factory.

7:30 pm
SGUARDI
Troublemakers: the Story of Land Art  by James Crump, USA, 2015, 72’
language: English; subtitles: Italian
A history of Land Art, told by the movement’s protagonists: Robert Smithson, Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer, Dennis Oppenheim, Vito Acconci. Through rare archival footage and Germano Celant’s narration, the film is a tribute to their visionary courage and the works they produced in the immense spaces of the American Southwest’s deserts.

9:00 pm
CINEMA D’ARTISTA
Human Mask  by Pierre Huyghe, France, 2014, sound, 19′
French artist Pierre Huyghe got the idea for this enigmatic film from the story of a restaurant near Tokyo, where the waiters are trained monkeys. Huyghe, who has often used animals in his work, films that monkey whose face is covered by a mask inspired by traditional Noh drama. A metaphor for the human condition, the monkey is forced to infinitely replay his role, walking around, trapped in the same empty restaurant, that we imagine in Fukushima after the nuclear accident in 2011.

9:30 pm
SGUARDI
Kasper König’s Address Book – Claes Oldenburg, Nicole Eisenman  by Corinna Belz, Germany, 2014, 26′
language: English, German, French; subtitles: English, Italian
Kasper König, famous international curator, built a vast network of relationships through constantly updating his address book of artists whom he supported and promoted. The director and König lead us on a trip through the creative universe of two of these artists and the private space of their ateliers: Claes Oldenburg and Nicole Eisenman.

10:00 pm
SGUARDI
Concrete Love – The Böhm Family by Maurizius Staerkle Drux, 2014, Germany/Swiss, 87′
language: English, German; subtitles: English, Italian
In the presence of the author
Portrait of a dynasty of German architects. The prize-winning film follows the work in the studio and at construction sites of Gottfried Böhm, his children and his wife: a family united by a passion for art and architecture, however different their individual characters.