Ravenna Nightmare Film Fest does not raise the white flag in the face of the Covid-19 emergency, but is renewing itself, without forgetting its origins. The historic festival dedicated to the dark side of cinema goes on stream, thus inaugurating its Online Edition, scheduled from 31 October to 8 November, on the most famous and prestigious platform in our country, which has hosted entire festivals or individual festival sections: MYmovies.it.
The Guest of Honour of the 18th edition will be Marco Bellocchio, winner of the Leone d'Oro for Lifetime Achievement and the David di Donatello for directing, as well as president of the Cineteca di Bologna. To enhance the dark side of his cinema, Blood of My Blood, one of the director's most enigmatic and mysterious films, will be screened.
"The work of research and enhancement of the Italian cinema continues through the voice of authors who, like Marco Bellocchio, have brought the representation of the dark side of life (even before that of cinema) to levels of excellence, through its entire cinematographic corpus, and the dark side of cinema through films of rare power, including Blood of my blood: a film in which you breathe a surreal visionary nature, which we will present at the festival - says Mariangela Sansone, critic, essayist and consultant to the artistic direction of the festival, describing the film - In the dark, ghosts turn into vampire creatures, like Count Basta (Roberto Herlitzka): a derailed figure, a body deformed by the lust for power that wanders at night, in the darkness. An Innocent X, transfigured in his Baconian materialization. Bodies that slide from one era to another, similar and distant; memories of an immutable past; the convex mirror of the present. Nothing changes, everything flows, but everything remains unchanged in human ferocity."
The tribute to the Masters has therefore been confirmed also for the 18th edition, which in the past editions saw the participation of authors of the caliber of Liliana Cavani, Jean-Jacques Annaud and David Lynch. Master Marco Bellocchio will be awarded the Special Edition Gold Ring, for the greatness of his entire work and for the civil commitment that has undergone it from the very beginning. In addition, the official poster of the 18th edition of Ravenna Nightmare will be dedicated to him.
Bobbio, yesterday. Federico, a soldier on horseback, knocks on the door of a convent to rehabilitate the memory of Fabrizio, his brother, a priest who committed suicide. Benedetta is accused of the extreme gesture, a young nun who according to the Inquisition would have loved, seduced and led him to madness. But Federico's revenge soon turns into desire. Refractory to repentance and agitated by pleasure, Benedetta is sentenced to perpetual prison and walled up alive in a convent cell. 'Graced' thirty years later by Federico, who became a cardinal, Benedetta will meet his gaze again, falling to the ground.
Bobbio, today. Federico, self-styled inspector of the Ministry, knocks on the same convent. He is accompanied by a Russian billionaire who would like to buy the ancient complex. Apparently abandoned to the vagaries of the seasons and the neglect of the municipality, the convent is inhabited by an enigmatic count, who has abandoned the living for the revived. The 'extinct' spouse of an (un) consolable widow, the count leaves his cell at night and crosses the country questioning friends and enemies about the 'state of things'. Things that change under the pressure of the 'new'.
Raised in a middle-class family in the province of Emilia, after having attended all the schools in religious institutes and having enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Milan, in 1959 he enrolled at the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Rome. After having attended the film courses of the 'Slade School of Fine Arts' in London (where he wrote a thesis on Antonioni and Bresson's cinema), in 1965 he made his debut at the Venice Film Festival with I pugni in tasca, work that addresses the progressive crumbling of the values on which the family is based. In the following years he approaches militant cinema: his nonconformism (and his ideological tendencies of the extreme left), find an outlet in films such as La Cina è vicina (1967) and Nel nome del padre (1971). In the same period he staged a politicized edition of William Shakespeare's Timone d'Atene at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. Followed by Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina (1972) on the world of journalism, and Matti da slegare (1975) on Italian asylums, written with Silvano Agosti, Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli. After Marcia trionfale (1976) on the barracks and military service environments, Bellocchio devoted himself to television with two productions: the direction of Chekhov's Seagull (1977) and the collective investigation La macchina cinema (1978). In 1982 - eighteen years after I pugni in tasca - he returns to analyze his family past with Gli occhi, la bocca which they follow, in 1984 Henry IV (taken from the comedy by Luigi Pirandello) and Il diavolo in corpo (1986) a free interpretation of the homonymous novel by Raymond Radyguet. After La condanna (1991), he won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival with The Dream of the Butterfly in 1994. In 1999 he made La balia (based on a novel by Pirandello) which won the David di Donatello for costumes and four Ciak d'Oro, for the best supporting actress, photography, set design and costumes. In 2003, with Buongiorno, notte, he obtained in Venice the prize for individual artistic contribution of particular importance. Three years later he is at the Cannes Film Festival with Il regista di matrimoni, a film that also gets the Silver Ribbons for best subject and editing. 2008 sees him once again protagonist at Cannes with Vincere, a drama that brings to light the secret love story between Mussolini and the thirty-year-old Ida Dalser, which earned Giovanna Mezzogiorno the Silver Ribbon as best female interpreter. In the same year he also participated in the documentary Negli occhi that the same Mezzogiorno dedicated to his father Vittorio and which is proposed in the 'Controcampo italiano' section of the 66th Venice Film Festival. In 2012 he is once again in Venice with Bella addormentata (which earned the young Fabrizio Falco the Marcello Mastroianni award, as best emerging actor) in which he resumes his great themes - youth, freedom, madness, political manipulation of the body and consciences - comparing them with one of the most controversial cases in our country: that of Eluana Englaro. In 2007 he received the Golden Globe for Lifetime Achievement. In 2011 he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice International Film Festival. In 2014 he received the David di Donatello Special Award. Since 2014 he has been president of the Cineteca di Bologna.
