Pier Paolo Pasolini Series at the Aero Theatre
03.28.2009
Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life" - The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights - three films that reinterpreted literary classics as epic celebrations of life in all its uninhibited erotic glory

PIER PAOLO PASOLINI: THE EROTIC FILMS "Cinema is identical to life, because each one of us has a virtual and invisible camera which follows us from when we’re born to when we die." - Pier Paolo Pasolini. Filmmaker, screenwriter, essayist, poet, critic and novelist Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922 - 1975) was, as Susan Sontag has noted, "indisputably the most remarkable figure to have emerged in Italian arts and letters since the Second World War." An artist and thinker of protean talents, Pasolini was continually drawn to those on the fringes of society: prostitutes, thieves, religious rebels and the like. He considered himself a Catholic Marxist (even though the Communist Party had unceremoniously booted him out in the late 1940s for being a homosexual); but his politics, like his life itself, were inseparable from his impassioned poetic vision, what he referred to as a "desperate vitality." This vitality reached its peak in Pasolini’s "Trilogy of Life" - The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights - three films that reinterpreted literary classics as epic celebrations of life in all its uninhibited erotic glory. Although he initially claimed the three films were his most non-political, Pasolini later switched gears, claiming that the movies celebrated the naked human body as the only terrain not dominated by the forces of capitalism. Ironically, the worldwide commercial success of the films took Pasolini by surprise, and he embarked on a never-finished "Anti-Trilogy Of Life" with his most controversial film, Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom, a relentless, unbearably claustrophobic examination of fascism and sadism in the last days of World War II; it was widely banned, and has only rarely been revived in the United States. Just before the release of SALO, Pasolini was tragically and brutally murdered by a young prostitute, robbing world cinema of one of its most seminal artists.

All prints are in Italians with English subtitles, except for The Canterbury Tales - which is dubbed in English

Friday, April 3 at 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
THE DECAMERON 1970, MGM Repertory, 111 min. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. Based on Giovanni Bocaccio’s classic novel, the first film in Pasolini’s "Trilogy of Life" established the raw, visceral feeling of the series, using gorgeous period locations, mixing professional and non-professional actors, and combining equal parts poetry, social satire, slapstick and bawdy sexuality into a unique living tapestry. Pasolini himself appears as a Renaissance artist, "one of Giotto’s best students," hired to paint an enormous fresco on the wall of a church. With Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Angela Luce.

SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM 1975, MGM Repertory, 117 min. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. Be prepared, SALO is not for the weak of heart. The polar opposite of the "Trilogy of Life," SALO depicts with cold precision the sexual and psychological atrocities visited on 16 young men and women, held hostage by a group of depraved nobles at the end of WWII. Pasolini based the film on a notorious book by the Marquis de Sade, but shifted the locale to the town of Salo, where Pasolini’s brother was killed during the war (and where he himself was arrested by the Nazis). One of the most controversial and widely censored films ever made (it took over 25 years for the uncut version to screen in England), SALO has lost none of its power to shock and disturb. With Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto Quintavalle. Note: Due to the graphic sexual nature of these films, no one under 18 will be admitted to the screenings.

Saturday, April 4 at 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
THE CANTERBURY TALES 1971, MGM Repertory, 109 min. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. On a pilgrimage to Canterbury, a group of travelers agree to share stories to ease the journey - and we’re treated to a riotous carnival of lecherous old merchants, deceitful young wives, naked satyrs, houses of prostitution, a handsome devil in rent collector’s clothes and much more. With stunning production design by Dante Ferretti (GANGS OF NEW YORK) and a haunting score of period music selected by Pasolini and Ennio Morricone. Winner of the Golden Bear at the 1972 Berlin Film Festival. With Hugh Griffith, Laura Betti, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti and Pasolini himself as Geoffrey Chaucer. The print is the English dubbed version.

ARABIAN NIGHTS 1974, MGM Repertory, 130 min. One of Pasolini’s greatest achievements, ARABIAN NIGHTS is a shimmering, golden dream of a film, drunk on its own beauty, where story after story unfolds like leaves in an ancient Persian manuscript. Equaled only by Wojciech Has’ THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT in its exquisite, otherworldly tone and intricate, puzzle-box structure, ARABIAN NIGHTS is simply unforgettable. With Tessa Bouche, Ines Pellegrini, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Franco Merli.

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02.02.2010
The Italian Trade Commission welcomes the Italian toons at Kidscreen 2010

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November 10-18, a selection of the best Italian Films of 2009

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10.24.2009
Opening Nigh, Sunday, November 15, 8:00 - 9:30 pm Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco. Copresented with New Italian Cinema Events and the Italian Cultural Institute