From: Philippe Dijon de Monteton (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Feb 01 2009 - 05:33:30 PST
LUCCA FF WITH PUCCINI AT BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
NEW WORKS BY STEVEN DWOSKIN, CHRISTIAN LEBRAT AND MICHAEL SNOW
Three videos of the project TWENTY PUCCINI – a series of short films that were commissioned by the Lucca Film Festival - have been selected at the FORUM EXPANDED of this year’s Berlin Film Festival (5-15 feb).
The three vidoes are « ASCOLTA ! » by Stephen Dwoskin, « V2 (Puccini) » by Christian Lebrat and « PUCCINI CONSERVATO» by Michael Snow !
ASCOLTA! UK, Italy, 2008, 6 min
Liu, crying, sings “Signore, ascolta!” Liu can bear it no more. She sinks to the ground, exhausted and sobbing. Puccini makes tears of joy and of sadness. Ascolta! was inspired by Puccini’s opera “Turandot”.
V2 (PUCCINI), France/Italy, 2008, 3 min
A cellist freely interprets some famous melodies from Puccini’s La Bohème. A camera films the musical “performance” from very close up. Shot in a single take, the point is not to tell a story, but to attempt to render the pure moment in which music emerges and an image is formed.
PUCCINI CONSERVATO, Canada, Italy, 2008, 10 min
Puccini Conservato uses a CD, a sound recording of some Puccini music (from La Boheme). The source of the sound (the loudspeakers) in a continuous hand-held panning (guided by the music), intercut with shots of flowers or wood-fire, exemplifying the lyricism in Puccini's music. By being a recording of a recording, the work proclaims the artificiality of the sound. However the beauty and humanity of the music comes through too. (Michael Snow)
Filmmakers from around the world, united by their free and fiercely individualistic approaches to cinema, have contributed to TWENTY PUCCINI, a series of short films celebrating Giacomo Puccini. Each film provides a unique and personal take on the music of a master composer who would have turned 150 in 2008. These re-interpretations of Turandot, Madame Butterfly or Manon Lescaut are created with no inhibitions, no budget and no limits, giving free reign to the poetic and independently minded sensibilities of the participating artists. From established legends like Tsai Ming Liang and Tonino De Bernardi, Michael Snow and Stephen Dwoskin, to the revelation of younger filmmakers such as Brady Corbet and Keja Ho Kramer, Twenty Puccini proves as much a manifesto for the power of free filmmaking as a reflection on Puccini’s music.
TWENTY PUCCINI is: Antoine Barraud, Pip Chodorov, Brady Corbet, Peter Cramer & Jack waters, Tonino De Bernardi, Claire Doyon, Stephen Dwoskin, Agnès Feuvre, Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin, Keja Kramer, Christian Lebrat, Alberto Momo, Lorenzo Recio, Michael Snow, Tsai Ming Liang.
For more information:
http://www.arsenal-berlin.de/en/forum/news/newsdisplay/article/1443/62.html?cHash=de1fdc019d
LUCCA FILM FESTIVAL
ASSOCIAZIONE VI(S)TA NOVA
Via del Tiro a Segno, trav. IV n°67
55100 Lucca – Italia
PHONE: 0039 0583 390597
FAX : 0039 0583 583204
www.vistanova.it
Press Office Lucca Film Festival
Antonio Pirozzi - 3395238132
Jacopo Storni - 3357163225
email suppressed
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.