Tag Archives: Federico Fellini

RACHEL FEINSTEIN’S “THE LAST DAYS OF FOLLY” PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL

“Rococo Hut” is one of three sculptural pieces that make up Rachel Feinstein’s “Folly” in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

FOLLY
Madison Square Park
23rd to 25th Sts. between Madison Ave. & Broadway
Wednesday, September 3, free, 5:30 – 8:30
Exhibition continues through September 7
www.madisonsquarepark.org
folly slideshow

At first look, Rachel Feinstein’s site-specific “Folly” installation in Madison Square Park appears to be a trio of fragile ornamental structures, seemingly crudely made out of paper (they began life as handmade paper models), that could serve as backdrops for a high school play. Echoing fairy-tale-like nonfunctional garden decoration from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe as well as Nymphenburg porcelain, the three pieces — “Cliff House,” inspired by Ballets Russes sets; “Rococo Hut,” influenced by Marie Antoinette’s château Le Petit Triannon; and “The Flying Ship,” based on a Commedia dell’arte skit about Punchinello — are actually constructed from powder-coated aluminum. The works, which also give nods to Federico Fellini, Marlene Dietrich’s portrayal of Catherine the Great in The Scarlet Empress, and Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s real and imagined landscapes, might look like they could collapse at any moment — “Rococo Hut” features crooked steps, “The Flying Ship” uses a tree for balance, and “Cliff House” looks supremely unsafe — but they are sturdy enough to be home to a wide-ranging collection of performances on September 3. “The Madison Park Conservancy has given me the opportunity to marry my early interest in theater and performance with my later obsession with the handmade in one of the most spectacular settings. I picture ‘Folly’ as an empty Fellini-esque set dropped into the middle of a lush green wonderland in the historical Flatiron district of New York City,” the New York City-based Feinstein (“The Snow Queen”), who was born in Defiance, Arizona, and raised in Miami, said in a statement. “I have always been driven by the stark contrast between good and evil in old fairy tales. Having this setting, a hidden natural jewel situated within the tall skyscrapers of yesterday and today, will be the perfect backdrop for my theater, where the real people who occupy the park every day will stand in as Commedia dell’arte performers.”

Rachel Feinstein’s “Folly” will be home to a wide-ranging performance festival on September 3 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

On Wednesday, “The Last Days of Folly” will consist of My Barbarian performing its “Broke Baroque Suite”; a procession through the park led by artists Allison Brainard and Cara Chan; musical segues by Jarvis Cocker based on Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé for the Ballets Russes; Sofia Coppola directing six Joffrey Ballet School ballerinas dancing to Isao Tomita’s version of one of Claude Debussy’s Arabesques; a sound-and-movement piece from multidisciplinary artist Tamar Ettun; Little Did Productions’ magic lantern interpretation of parts of the Ramayana with Luke Santy on sitar and Jessica Lorence on vocals; an improvised dance by Lil Buck set to music by Paul Cantelon and cellist Wolfram Koessel; Kalup Linzy’s “Romantic Loner” and “One Life to Heal,” with live music by Mike Jackson; Molly Lowe’s nude costume incorporating numerous performers; a music set by Angela McCluskey and Cantelon, joined by Lil Buck and others; a puppet show from Shana Moulton; a new video work by Tony Oursler collaborating with Constance DeJong; a sound installation by Carlos Vela-Prado; and “Folly”-inspired fashion from Giles Deacon, Duro Olowu, Zac Posen, Narciso Rodriguez, Cynthia Rowley, Proenza Schouler, and Madeline Weinrib. We have no idea how this is all going to be squeezed into a mere three hours, but we can’t wait to find out.

THREE AUTEURS OF WORLD CINEMA — ANDREI TARKOVSKY: STALKER

Andrei Tarkovsky’s STALKER takes place in the fantastical land known as the Zone

STALKER (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
Mid-Manhattan Library
455 Fifth Ave. at 40th St.
Wednesday, March 20, free, 7:00
www.nypl.org

Set in a seemingly postapocalyptic world that is never explained, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker is an existential work of immense beauty, a deeply philosophical, continually frustrating, and endlessly rewarding journey into nothing less than the heart and soul of the world. Alexander Kaidanovsky stars as Stalker, a careful, precise man who has been hired to lead Writer and Professor (Tarkovsky regulars Anatoli Solonitsyn and Nikolai Grinko, respectively) into the forbidden Zone, a place of mystery that houses a room where it is said that people can achieve their most inner desires. While Stalker’s home and the bar where the men meet are dark, gray, and foreboding, the Zone is filled with lush green fields, trees, and aromatic flowers — as well as abandoned vehicles, strange passageways, and inexplicable sounds. The Zone — which heavily influenced J. J. Abrams’s creation of the island on Lost — has a life all its own as past, present, and future merge in an expansive land where every forward movement is fraught with danger but there is no turning back. An obsessive tyrant of a filmmaker, Tarkovsky (Andrei Rublev, Solaris) imbues every shot with a supreme majesty, taking viewers on an unusual and unforgettable cinematic adventure. Stalker is screening for free March 20 at the Mid-Manhattan Library as part of the series “Three Auteurs of World Cinema,” which began with six films by Wong Kar-wai and continues with Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice on March 27 before presenting eight works by Federico Fellini beginning April 10 with I Vitteloni.

THREE AUTEURS OF WORLD CINEMA — ANDREI TARKOVSKY: THE MIRROR

Andrei Tarkovsky’s surreal THE MIRROR will be screening for free at Mid-Manhattan Library

THE MIRROR (ZERKALO) (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975)
Mid-Manhattan Library
455 Fifth Ave. at 40th St.
Wednesday, March 13, free, 7:00
www.nypl.org
www.kino.com

”Words can’t really express a person’s emotions. They’re too inert.” So says Andrei Tarkovsky in his dream-filled, surreal classic The Mirror, which features long scenes with little or no dialogue. Tarkovsky turns the mirror on himself and his childhood to tell the fragmented and disjointed story of WWII-era Russia through his own personal experiences with his family. Tarkovsky was obsessed with film as art, and this nonlinear film, which shifts back and forth between color and black-and-white, is his poetic masterpiece; he even includes his father’s (Arseny Tarkovsky) poems read over shots that are crafted as if paintings. Many of the actors (which include his mother, Maria Vishnyakova, and his wife, Larisa Tarkovskaya, in addition to Margarita Terekhova, Ignat Daniltsev, and Anatoli Solonitsyn) play several roles; have fun trying to figure out who is who and what exactly is going on at any one moment. The Mirror is screening for free March 13 at the Mid-Manhattan Library as part of the series “Three Auteurs of World Cinema,” which began with six films by Wong Kar-wai and continues with Tarkovsky’s Stalker and The Sacrifice before presenting eight works by Federico Fellini beginning April 10 with I Vitteloni.

URBAN LANDSCAPES: ROME OPEN CITY

Pregnant widow Pina (Anna Magnani) runs through the streets of German-occupied Rome in Rossellini antiwar masterpiece

CABARET CINEMA: ROME OPEN CITY (ROMA, CITTÀ APERTA) (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Friday, January 4, free with $7 bar minimum, 7:00
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org

One of six films to be awarded the Grand Prix at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival in 1946, Roberto Rossellini’s Rome Open City is an antiwar masterpiece, the first of three works that together form his War Trilogy, along with Paisan and Germany Year Zero. Begun in January 1945 with Italy still under German occupation, Rome Open City melds neorealism with melodrama in telling the story of a small, tight-knit community secretly battling the Nazis. The leader of the local Italian resistance is Giorgio Manfredi (Marcello Pagliero), an engineer sending messages and money through courier Don Pietro (Aldo Fabrizi), a priest who is generally left alone by the Nazis and the Italian police. Giorgio hides away in his friend Francesco’s (Francesco Grandjacquet) apartment as Francesco prepares to marry Pina (Anna Magnani), a pregnant widow raising a son, Marcello (Vito Annicchiarico), who is part of a gang of young kids also fighting in the resistance and causing a surprising amount of trouble. Meanwhile, Giorgio’s former flame, cabaret performer Marina Mari (Maria Michi), is cozying up to Ingrid (Giovanna Galletti), a suspicious woman with ties to the Nazis, who are led by the relentless Major Bergmann (Harry Feist). With events coming to a head, faith is questioned, and betrayals set in motion violence, torture, and killings that brutally characterize the many horrors of war. Written by Sergio Amidei and Federico Fellini, Rome Open City is a remarkable example of guerrilla filmmaking, with Rossellini and cinematographer Ubaldo Arata shooting on the streets of Rome using whatever dupe negatives they could get their hands on. The mix of professional and nonprofessional actors lends a stark reality to the proceedings. “Above all, the concept was to give an honest account, to show things as they were,” Rossellini explained in a 1963 intro to the film, a staggering achievement that seems to only get better with age. Rome Open City is screening January 4 at 7:00 as part of the Rubin Museum Cabaret Cinema series “Urban Landscapes,” held in conjunction with the exhibition “Radical Terrain: Modernist Art from India,” and will be introduced by David Bragdon of the city Parks Department. The brief series also includes Alain Resnais’s Last Year at Marienbad and Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Eclisse and Red Desert later this month.

HAPPINESS IS . . . 8½

Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is in a bit of a personal and professional crisis in Fellini masterpiece “8½”

CABARET CINEMA: 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Friday, October 19, free with $7 bar minimum, 9:30
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org

“Your eminence, I am not happy,” Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) tells the cardinal (Tito Masini) halfway through Federico Fellini’s self-reflexive masterpiece 8½. “Why should you be happy?” the cardinal responds. “That is not your task in life. Who said we were put on this earth to be happy?” Well, film makes people happy, and it’s because of works such as 8½, which will be screening October 19 as part of the Rubin Museum Cabaret Cinema series “Happiness is . . .” and will be introduced by Mexican-born, New York-based cartoonist Felipe Galindo. Fellini’s Oscar-winning eighth-and-a-half movie is a sensational self-examination of film and fame, a hysterically funny, surreal story of a famous Italian auteur who finds his life and career in need of a major overhaul. Mastroianni is magnificent as Guido Anselmi, a man in a personal and professional crisis who has gone to a healing spa for some much-needed relaxation, but he doesn’t get any as he is continually harassed by producers, screenwriters, would-be actresses, and various other oddball hangers-on. He also has to deal both with his mistress, Carla (Sandra Milo), who is quite a handful, as well as his wife, Luisa (Anouk Aimée), who is losing patience with his lies. Trapped in a strange world of his own creation, Guido has dreams where he flies over claustrophobic traffic and makes out with his dead mother, and his next film involves a spaceship; it doesn’t take a psychiatrist to figure out the many inner demons that are haunting him. Marvelously shot by Gianni Di Venanzo in black-and-white, scored with a vast sense of humor by Nino Rota, and featuring some of the most amazing hats ever seen on film — costume designer Piero Gherardi won an Oscar for all the great dresses and chapeaux — 8½ is an endlessly fascinating and wildly entertaining exploration of the creative process and the bizarre world of filmmaking itself. And after seeing 8½, you’ll appreciate Woody Allen’s 1980 homage, Stardust Memories, a whole lot more. “Happiness is . . .” continues through December 28 with such other Allen favorites as Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers, Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, and George Cukor’s Camille, held in conjunction with the larger Rubin Museum program “Happy Talk.”

NYFF50: THE 50th NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL

Ang Lee’s LIFE OF PI will open the fiftieth annual New York Film Festival

Alice Tully Hall, 1941 Broadway at 65th St.
Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center: Francesca Beale Theater, Howard Gilman Theater, Amphitheater, 144 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Ave. between West 64th & 65th Sts.
September 28 – October 14
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com

The New York Film Festival is paying tribute to a pair of milestones this year, as 2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the festival, and longtime program director Richard Peña is stepping down after a quarter century of inspired service at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, leaving behind quite a legacy. This year’s festival begins on September 28 with the world premiere of Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, adapted from Yann Martel’s novel, and closes on October 14 with the world premiere of Robert Zemeckis’s Flight, starring Denzel Washington, Melissa Leo, and Don Cheadle. The centerpiece selection is the world premiere of David Chase’s hotly anticipated Not Fade Away, reuniting him with his Sopranos star, James Gandolfini. Other films, by some of the greatest directors from around the globe, include Michael Haneke’s Amour, Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills, the Taviani brothers’ Caesar Must Die, Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha, Sally Potter’s Ginger and Rosa, Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone in Love, Raúl Ruiz’s Night Across the Street, Brian De Palma’s Passion, Olivier Assayas’s Something in the Air, Alain Resnais’s You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet, and Lee Daniels’s The Paperboy, part of the Gala Tribute to Nicole Kidman.

Peter O’Toole’s eyes should shine even more in 4K restoration of David Lean’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA at the New York Film Festival

The Masterworks section reexamines such films as Amos Gitai’s Field Diary, Bob Rafelson’s The King of Marvin Gardens, Laurence Olivier’s Richard III, Federico Fellini’s Fellini Satyricon, a 4K restoration of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, and Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, with Cimino on hand to talk about one of Hollywood’s most famous financial disasters. (Was the film really that bad?) Among the special events are Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States, theater legend Richard Foreman’s Once Every Day, and a twenty-fifth-anniversary screening of the cult classic The Princess Bride, with a reunion bringing together director Rob Reiner and stars Billy Crystal, Cary Elwes, Carol Kane, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, and Robin Wright. The Convergence section looks at cutting-edge technology in cinematic storytelling, with keynote conversations, works-in-progress, and the live multimedia presentation Whispers in the Dark. The annual Views from the Avant-Garde sidebar features works by Ruiz, Peter Kubelka, Chris Marker, Luke Fowler, Nathaniel Dorsky, and others. There will also be a daily talk show, NYFF Live, taking place at 7:00 in the evening in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater with various actors, directors, critics, and other insiders discussing the state of modern cinema.

15 FOR 15 — CELEBRATING RIALTO PICTURES: NIGHTS OF CABIRIA

Giulietta Masina is unforgettable in Fellini masterpiece NIGHTS OF CABIRIA

NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (LE NOTTI DI CABIRIA) (Federico Fellini, 1957)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Wednesday, March 28, 1:30
Series runs through March 29
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com

Giulietta Masina was named Best Actress at Cannes for her unforgettable portrayal of a far-too-trusting street prostitute in Nights of Cabiria. Directed by her husband, Federico Fellini, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, and written in collaboration with Pier Paolo Pasolini, the film opens with Cabiria taking a romantic stroll by the river with her boyfriend, Giorgio (Franco Fabrizi), who suddenly snatches her purse and pushes her into the water, running off as she nearly drowns. Such is life for Cabiria, whose sweet, naive nature can turn foul tempered in an instant. Over the course of the next few days, she gets picked up by movie star Alberto Lazzari (Amedeo Nazzari), goes on a religious pilgrimage with fellow prostitutes Wanda (Franca Marzi) and Rosy (Loretta Capitoli), gets hypnotized by a magician (Ennio Girolami), and falls in love with a tender stranger named Oscar (François Périer). But nothing ever goes quite as expected for Cabiria, who continues to search for the bright side even in the direst of circumstances. Masina is a delight in the film, whether yelling at a neighbor, dancing the mambo with Alberto, or looking to confess her sins, her facial expressions a work of art in themselves, ranging from sly smiles and innocent glances to nasty smirks and angry stares. Fellini’s second film to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (after La Strada), Nights of Cabiria is screening March 28 as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s “15 for 15: Celebrating Rialto Pictures” series honoring the fifteenth anniversary of the art-house distributor founded by Film Forum programmer extraordinaire Bruce Goldstein, who also worked on the updated translation for the 1998 restoration of this Fellini masterpiece.