Pasolini and The Arabian Nights

The 37th edition of Bergamo Film Meeting will feature a special project called Pasolini and the Arabian Nights. A poet, writer and director considered one of the greatest Italian intellectuals of the twentieth century, Pier Paolo Pasolini will be the protagonist of this festival event consisting of a photo exhibition, a panel discussion and the screening of three restored films: Il fiore delle Mille e una notte (Arabian Nights, 1974), Le mura di Sana’a (The Walls of Sana’a, 1971) e Appunti per un film sull’India (Notes for a film about India, 1968).

Hosted at the former church of La Maddalena and scheduled to take place on March 9-17, the Pasolini and the Arabian Nights exhibition consists in an engaging set-up where photography, moving images and film posters coexist. Shot by Roberto Villa in 1972 on the set of Il fiore delle Mille e una notte (Arabian Nights, 1974), the photos portray many a highlight of the film production, beautifully rendering the faces and bodies of the Iranian and Yemen population; two screens will introduce the visitor in the ethnological universe of Pasolini’s cinema with rare footage from his works Le mura di Sana’a  and Appunti per un film sull’India; and, finally, a selection of vintage film will offer a glimpse of extra-film language with the works of some of the best graphic designers from the Italian film industry.

Saturday, March 9
from 4PM to 6PM | Bergamo, Ex Chiesa della Maddalena – Via Sant’Alessandro, 39d

Panel discussion by

Roberto Villa, photographer and communication scholar | A journey inside and outside the set of Arabian Nights, a journey inside and outside Cinema – Langue et Parole
Roberto Chiesi, film critic and manager of the Centro Studi-Archivio Pier Paolo Pasolini of the Cineteca di Bologna. |The reality of dreams – The dreamlike dimension of Arabian Nights
Primo Giroldini, director, producer, collector | Pasolini’s Africa
Maria Rita Parsi, psychotherapist, president of the Fondazione Fabbrica della Pace and Movimento Bambino Onlus, former member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (OHCHR) | Pasolini and the outskirts of the city and the soul
Tancredi Militano, brain biologist, expert in new methods of analysis of emotional perceptional mechanisms | Synthetic emotions i.e. Cinema

Moderator: Caterina Rossi (Bergamo Film Meeting)

In collaboration with  FONDAZIONE FABBRICA DELLA PACE
Free admission

Sunday, March 10 
from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM | Bergamo, Ex Chiesa della Maddalena – Via Sant’Alessandro, 39d

Lectio Magistralis by Enrico Intra, pianist, composer and orchestra conductor |”Music and Cinema”
Free admission

Monday, March 11 
11:00 AM |  Auditorium di Piazza della Libertà, Bergamo

Screening of the film l fiore delle Mille e una notte (Arabian Nights, 1974) by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Wednesday, March 13 
from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM | Bergamo, Ex Chiesa della Maddalena – Via Sant’Alessandro, 39d

Lectio Magistralis by Roberto Villa, photographer and communication scholar | “From Theory to Practice – A Freelance on the Film Set”
Free admission