Archive of films Bertolucci on Bertolucci / Bertolucci on Bertolucci

Italy
2013, 102 min

Section: Out of the Past
Year: 2014

This "narrative recounted in the first person by Bernardo Bertolucci” is an innovative documentary profile, fascinating in its original treatment of archive sources: The viewer spends almost two hours in the exclusive company of the director of The Last Emperor and his highly inspirational observations.

Synopsis

Delivering one of the most intense experiences at last year’s Venice festival, renowned filmmaker Luca Guadagnino and experienced editor Walter Fasano together launched into this atypical documentary portrait of Italy’s most celebrated living film director. After two years of sifting through archive footage, which in the end amounted to over three hundred hours’ worth, they pieced together a highly complex profile comprised exclusively of shots of Bertolucci speaking at various points during his colourful career. Here, the subject, originally a poet, later a filmmaker, yet ever the inspirational intellectual, tells us about his favourites Renoir and Godard, and states that the musical is the essence of film. While this "narrative recounted in the first person by Bernardo Bertolucci” touches upon the majority of his films, it is not conceived chronologically. Despite the derivative nature of the source material, the documentary offers an electrifying and, above all, original treatment of archive data, and generates a rare energy as it vaults across the decades.

About the director

Walter Fasano (b. 1970, Bari, Italy) studied film history at the University of Bologna and editing at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. As an editor he worked with Dario Argento and Ferzan Ozpetek, and has established a lasting friendship and collaboration with Luca Guadagnino. He has edited all the latter’s films and worked with him on the script for I Am Love (2009). He has also written music for stage plays and documentary films. Luca Guadagnino (b. 1971, Palermo, Italy) debuted with The Protagonists, screened at Venice in 1999. Four other films followed: Mundo civilizado (2003), Cuoco contadino (2004), Melissa P. (2005) and I Am Love (2009). The last of these was nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film and for an Oscar for Best Costume Design.

Contacts

Frenesy Film Company
Piazza Premoli 3, 26013, Crema
Italy
Tel: +39 037 383 382
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.frenesyfilm.com

About the film

Color, DCP

Section:	Out of the Past

Director:	Walter Fasano, Luca Guadagnino
Screenplay:	Walter Fasano, Luca Guadagnino
Music:	Walter Fasano
Editor:	Walter Fasano
Producer:	Luca Guadagnino
Production:	Frenesy Film
Coproduction:	Kimera Film
Contact:	Frenesy Film Company

www:	www.bertoluccionbertolucci.com