Schermo dell’Arte (Art on Screen) Festival 2019

A scene from ‘Cy Dear’

An exciting selection of new movie releases from around the world will debut in the historic city of Florence this week. Lo Schermo dell’Arte festival is a project that promotes the collaboration between contemporary art and cinema through short films, videos and installations in addition to training projects and residencies for international artists and their works. Since the first edition of the Lo Schermo dell’Arte took place in 2008, this will be the 12th year of the cinematic event. Screenings will be held at Florence’s Cinema La Compagnia (via Cavour 50/r) – the perfect time to hide away from gloomy November weather and watch experimental art films.

ART MOVIES

November 13 – 17: LO SCHERMO DELL’ARTE FILM FESTIVAL 2019. Cinema La Compagnia, Palazzo Strozzi & Palazzo Medici Riccardi. Inauguration at 6 pm on November 13, movie times vary throughout the week. Admission: €5 afternoon, €7 evening, €10 daily, €40 festival subscription pass.  The exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi is free of charge.

Created by artists, many of the entries are about art and will play in different languages, including Italian, German, Swedish, French and more, all with English and Italian subtitles. Guests can view documentaries about contemporary art, or see video installations and participate in encounters with filmmakers, authors and curators. Lo Schermo dell’Arte also includes initiatives to assist visual artists dedicated to the vision and themes of their research. One of these projects is VISIO, a workshop for 12 European artists under 35 selected in collaboration with important European art academies and schools. At the end of the exhibition, one artist will be awarded the VISIO Young Talent Acquisition Prize and the winning film will be added to the Seven Gravity Collection of contemporary video works.

The festival opens with the VISIO’s “Moving Images After Post-Internet,” curated by Leonardo Bigazzi. The exhibition showcases a generation of artists who witnessed the rise of what they have termed the “Post-Internet condition.” The show, running from November 12 to December 1, reflects the influence that the digital age has had on the participants and how new media has deeply changed the language of moving images. The exhibits include a multitude of videos and several dialogues with the artists to further explain their creative process.

The main program will open with a film by Philippe Parreno, an Algerian-born French artist who has chosen to elaborate on the theme of merging the real and imagined since the 1990s. Parreno has selected Lo Schermo dell’Arte to debut his first theatrical screening project, No More Reality Whereabouts, which is in English. The film incorporates excerpts of Parreno’s past videos re-edited to create both a new piece and a retrospective in one. No More Reality Whereabouts is accompanied by a piano performance by Mikhail Rudy, a long-time collaborator of Parreno’s. The artist will be present for the screening on November 13 at 6 pm at the Cinema La Compagnia.

Another film, Letizia Battaglia—Shooting the Mafia, by Kim Longinotto, is about the life of photojournalist of the same name—commonly known as ‘the Mafia photographer.’ This movie is an intimate look at how Battaglia dedicated her life to photographing, mostly in black and white, both beautiful and troubling images in her home city of Palermo. Shooting the Mafia is in Italian with English subtitles and will be shown at the Cinema La Compagnia at 9 pm on Wednesday, November 13.

This edition of retrospective section of Lo Schermo dell’Arte Film festival is dedicated to British artist Jeremy Deller.  His work explores themes of pop and folk culture through video, installation and performance, and he critiques the social structures of contemporary society through his narrative. One of Deller’s films, Putin’s Happy, is about the division that Brexit has caused among the British. Deller has interviewed many pro- and anti-Brexit citizens near London’s Parliament Square and he interprets their opinions. The film is scheduled at 5:30 pm on November 15 at Cinema La Compagnia. Deller has won several awards, including the Turner Prize in 2004, an annual prize presented to a British visual artist.

The final showing on Sunday, November 17 at 10 pm at Cinema La Compagnia will be Cy Dear, by Andrea Bettinetti, focusing on the late artist Cy Twombly. The film is a tribute to Twombly, an illustrator, painter, sculptor and photographer, who lived in both the United States and Italy and died in Rome in 2011. His artwork inspired artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer, Francesco Clemente, and Julian Schnabel.

An exciting selection of new movie releases from around the world will debut in the historic city of Florence this week. Lo Schermo dell’Arte festival is a project that promotes the collaboration between contemporary art and cinema through short films, videos and installations in addition to training projects and residencies for international artists and their works. Since the first edition of the Lo Schermo dell’Arte took place in 2008, this will be the 12th year of the cinematic event. Screenings will be held at Florence’s Cinema La Compagnia (via Cavour 50/r) – the perfect time to hide away from gloomy November weather and watch experimental art films.

ART MOVIES

November 13 – 17: LO SCHERMO DELL’ARTE FILM FESTIVAL 2019. Cinema La Compagnia, Palazzo Strozzi & Palazzo Medici Riccardi. Inauguration at 6 pm on November 13, movie times vary throughout the week. Admission: €5 afternoon, €7 evening, €10 daily, €40 festival subscription pass.  The exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi is free of charge.

Created by artists, many of the entries are about art and will play in different languages, including Italian, German, Swedish, French and more, all with English and Italian subtitles. Guests can view documentaries about contemporary art, or see video installations and participate in encounters with filmmakers, authors and curators. Lo Schermo dell’Arte also includes initiatives to assist visual artists dedicated to the vision and themes of their research. One of these projects is VISIO, a workshop for 12 European artists under 35 selected in collaboration with important European art academies and schools. At the end of the exhibition, one artist will be awarded the VISIO Young Talent Acquisition Prize and the winning film will be added to the Seven Gravity Collection of contemporary video works.

The festival opens with the VISIO’s “Moving Images After Post-Internet,” curated by Leonardo Bigazzi. The exhibition showcases a generation of artists who witnessed the rise of what they have termed the “Post-Internet condition.” The show reflects the influence that the digital age has had on the participants and how new media has deeply changed the language of moving images. The exhibits include a multitude of videos and several dialogues with the artists to further explain their creative process.

The main program will open with a film by Philippe Parreno, an Algerian-born French artist who has chosen to elaborate on the theme of merging the real and imagined since the 1990s. Parreno has selected Lo Schermo dell’Arte to debut his first theatrical screening project, No More Reality Whereabouts, which is in English. The film incorporates excerpts of Parreno’s past videos re-edited to create both a new piece and a retrospective in one. No More Reality Whereabouts is accompanied by a piano performance by Mikhail Rudy, a long-time collaborator of Parreno’s. The artist will be present for the screening on November 13 at 6 pm at the Cinema La Compagnia.

Another film, Letizia Battaglia—Shooting the Mafia, by Kim Longinotto, is about the life of photojournalist of the same name—commonly known as ‘the Mafia photographer.’ This movie is an intimate look at how Battaglia dedicated her life to photographing, mostly in black and white, both beautiful and troubling images in her home city of Palermo. Shooting the Mafia is in Italian with English subtitles and will be shown at the Cinema La Compagnia at 9 pm on Wednesday, November 13.

This edition of retrospective section of Lo Schermo dell’Arte Film festival is dedicated to British artist Jeremy Deller.  His work explores themes of pop and folk culture through video, installation and performance, and he critiques the social structures of contemporary society through his narrative. One of Deller’s films, Putin’s Happy, is about the division that Brexit has caused among the British. Deller has interviewed many pro- and anti-Brexit citizens near London’s Parliament Square and he interprets their opinions. The film is scheduled at 5:30 pm on November 15 at Cinema La Compagnia. Deller has won several awards, including the Turner Prize in 2004, an annual prize presented to a British visual artist.

The final showing on Sunday, November 17 at 10 pm at Cinema La Compagnia will be Cy Dear, by Andrea Bettinetti, focusing on the late artist Cy Twombly. The film is a tribute to Twombly, an illustrator, painter, sculptor and photographer, who lived in both the United States and Italy and died in Rome in 2011. His artwork inspired artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer, Francesco Clemente, and Julian Schnabel.

Lo Schermo dell’Arte (Art on Screen) is a modern project looking to further opportunities for international artists. The festival is a way to support artists and the appreciation of art in Florence, allowing the public to experience with them contemporary visual art through film.  For the complete program, visit the website.  (alexandra reilly)