Italian films to light up the movie screens of Bali
Italian films to light up the movie screens of Bali
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): A rare Italian film week is certain to
delight local film lovers.
Organized jointly by the Italian Embassy, the Italian Cultural
Center in Jakarta and Taman Budaya Bali, the Italian film week
will take place at Taman Budaya Bali from Thursday Dec. 30, 1999,
to Jan. 4, 2000.
The film week, officially opened by Italian ambassador to
Indonesia Carlo Marsili on Dec. 29, will also be highlighted by a
graphic art exhibition, Graphitalia, presenting works by Pasquale
Basile, Giovanni Cazzador and Gionanni Guardia.
An Italian night will also hold a contemporary music concert
presenting a collaborative work by Italy's Gruppo Tanit and
Balinese musician-composer I Kadek Suardana.
Nyoman Nikenaya, head of Taman Budaya, said that Balinese
artists had planned to revitalize cultural activities here,
including presenting art and culture from foreign countries.
Giusseppe (Pino) Confessa, vice consular in Bali, added that
the Italian government wanted to build a tighter cooperation with
Balinese artists and the community.
"By holding this event, we hope we can create a better
relationship and understanding between the two parties," said
Pino, who is married a Balinese woman.
He said there are more than 500 Italians residing in Denpasar
and surrounding areas. Many of them are married to local women,
said Pino in the Balinese language. He has also mastered some
traditional Balinese dances.
The film week, part of Italian Nights at the End of the
Century, will present six Italian films, including Cinema
Paradiso, directed by G. Tornatore; Mediterraneo, by G.
Salvatores; Strategia del Ragno, by Bernardo Bertolucci, L'Amore
Moleste, by Mario Martone; and Ooi Ciorne, by Russian-born
director Nikita Mikhalhov.
Cinema Paradiso is a story about the golden age of Italian
cinema. Mediterraneo is about Italian soldiers during World War
II who are sent to Greece. They are separated from their platoon
and get lost in a remote Greek village, where they build a new
and peaceful life for years, until they realize the war is over.
Strategia del Ragno (The Spider Stratagem), will be screened
on the third day of the film week.
The film, produced in l970, is Bertolucci's fourth film.
It portrays the journey of a son who wants to investigate his
father's death. Inspired by a short story by Jorge Luis Borge
entitled Theme of the Traitor and the Hero, the film explores the
son's moral conflict when he finds clues that his father was not
as good as people said.
Bertolucci's other film Prima della Rivoluzione (Before the
Revolution), produced in l964 when he was 22, will be screened on
the fifth day of the film week.
Based on a novel entitled The Charterhouse of Parma, the film
is a story of a man called Fabrizio. He always regards himself as
a revolutionary man and a fighter. Unfortunately, he belongs to
the past authoritarian regime. He can hardly release himself from
the past. He finds it hard to make any political action and
commitment to his country or, for that matter, to his girlfriend.
Parma-born Bertolucci has won several Academy Awards for his
works like The Last Emperor, Last Tango in Paris and Little
Buddha. He has also produced quality films like the Stealing
Beauty, and The Conformist.
L'Amore Moleste is a story of a girl who wants to reconstruct
her childhood in order to probe her mother's mysterious death.
The Italian film week will be closed with the screening of Ooi
Ciorne. The film was inspired by Anton Chekov's novels Lady with
a Little Dog, My Wife, The Birthday Party and Subjugated Anna.
The film conveys a story about a man who marries a weird Russian
lady. (zen)