From May 9th, Sundays 5.00 pm

Accompanying The Universe of Futurism. 1909-1936 exhibition, Proa presents a Futurist Cinema series, that shows the diversity of disciplines experimented by the avant-garde Italian movement, to be held every Sunday from May, 9th at Proa’s auditorium.

auditorio@proa.org / info@proa.org
Admission: $6

May
Sunday 9, 5.00 pm
Come Cretinetti paga i debiti, 1910. Dir. André Deed. 6′
Come fu che l’ingordigia rovinò il Natale a Cretinetti. 1910.
Dir. André Deed. 6′
Amor Pedestre, 1914. Dir. Marcel Fabre. 10′
Das Stahltier, 1935. Dir. Willy Otto Zielke. 15′
L’Uomo meccanico, 1921. Dir. André Deed. 24′

Sunday 16, 5.00 pm
Pacific 231, 1949. Dir. Jean Mitry. 12′
Velocità, 1930. Dir. T. Cordero, G. Martina, P. Oriani. 12′
L’Uomo meccanico, 1921. Dir. André Deed. 24′

Sunday 23, 5.00 pm
Ballet mécanique, 1923. Dir. F. Léger y D. Murphy. 14′
Jeux des reflets et de la vitesse, 1933. Dir. H. Chomette. 6′
Thaïs, 1916. Dir. Anton Giulio Bragaglia. 54′

Sunday 30, 2.00 – 8.00 pm
Futurist Cinema Marathon

The Futurist Cinema

The Futurist Cinema Manifest, signed in 1916, proclaims the movement’s rejection towards both narrative and theatrical language: “The cinema is an autonomous art. The cinema must therefore never copy the stage. The cinema, being essentially visual, must above all fulfil the evolution of painting; detach itself from reality, from photography, from the graceful and solemn. It must become anti-graceful, deforming, impressionistic, synthetic, dynamic, free-wording.”

The series will include an extraordinary selection of films from the first decades of the 20th century.  They reveal the futurist artists´s will to disrupt and experiment through diverse disciplines. One of its most distinguished directors, Anton Giulio Bragaglia – also author of the book The New Argentinean theatre – will be present with one of the most relevant works in Cinema history: Thaïs (1916). André Deed (director of buffoon Cretinetti’ s saga) and Marcel Fabre’s Amor Pedestre (1914) will offer a unique outlook on the birth of experimental cinema. The programme will also include a synthesis on the post-war period with films such as Velocità (1930), Pacific 231 (1949) and Das Stahltier (1935), which deal with the exalting views of the modern city, industrial labour and the machine.

Films synopsis

Amor Pedestre (Love afoot), 1914. Dir. Marcel Fabre. 10′
Illustrates the story of an accidental love triangle from a peculiar point of view: the feet. During his morning walk, Robinet (main character played by Fabre himself) encounters a young girl and decides to court her. Despite her rejecting him, Robinet slips a note on his shoe imploring to meet him later on. Back home, the note slips out of her shoe and is found by her angry husband who decides to show up at the date to meet Robinet.

Ballet mécanique (Mechanic ballet), 1923. Dir. Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy. 14 ‘
Is a caleidoscope of images paired up with an electric soundtrack. The film accounts for a constantly moving world dominated by mechanic and repetitive images combined with moments of solitude spent in a garden. A young girl swings in a garden; another girl smiles. The takes alternate rotating cylinders, turbines, and kitchen objects arranged in a concentric form. Over and over again, a woman climbs a flight of stairs carrying a bag over her shoulder. An art-deco figure appears, dancing.

Come Cretinetti paga i debiti (How Foolshead pays his debts), 1909. Dir. André Deed. 6’
Interpreted by director André Deed, Cretinetti (Foolshead) is the main character in a series of entertaining futurist short films; in which this buffoon sets himself to destroy everything that steps in his way. This time, Cretinetti is a compulsive debtor, persecuted by collectors that invade his apartment floor forcing him to pay his debts. The film focuses on Foolshead’ s adventures when he tries unsuccessfully to get rid of them and escape the law.

Come fu che l’ingordigia rovinò il Natale a Cretinetti (Foolshead’s Christmas), 1910. Dir. André Deed. 11’
In this take of André Deed’s comic saga, Cretinetti gets in trouble when he tries to post his Christmas party invitations in the mail. Because of him taking so long, a furious crowd waiting in line behind him calls the police to kick him out. Cretinetti purchases a tree to attack a public building and clumsily sets it on fire. He walks back to his house with the blazing tree where his family and friends await.

Das Stahltier (The Steel animal), 1935. Dir. Willy Otto Zielke. 15’
The railway workers wait outside for the factory doors to open and for another workday to begin. Inside, engineer Klaassen staid overnight working on some drafts for a new locomotive. As a result of the team’s hard work, the project comes together and Klaasen gets a promotion. Before leaving for his job, he meets up with his co-workers and has second thoughts regarding his decision. Their conversation revolves around the stories of the evolution of the railway industry and its pioneers.

Jeux des reflets et de la vitesse (Games on reflection and speed), 1933. Dir. Henri Chomette. 6’
Captures the impressions on the city of Paris; experimenting with light and movement through the camera lens.

L’Uomo meccanico (The mechanic man), 1921. Dir. André Deed. 24′
This film is a parody of serials; more precisely of one: “Master Mystery”, a thriller premiered a year before. Driven by an evil but beautiful women, the mechanic man tears down doors and walls obsessed with destroying everything that sets in its way. Saltarello, a marginal but loveable character that spends his time escaping the police, fights him. Scenes like the one where the robot persecutes a car or the duel between two robots which ends with dancing, have a very kitsch sense of humour.

Pacific 231 , 1949. Dir. Jean Mitry. 12′
Pacific 231 is both the name of the leading role locomotive and the critic and cinema theorist Jean Mitry’s short film. If the engine is the star of the action, the Swiss French composer Arthur Honegger’s music play is the protagonist of the soundtrack. This particular conjunction of cinema, music and machine produces a masterpiece, given the passion for engines that the director and composer share.

Thaïs, 1916. Dir. Anton Giulio Bragaglia. 54′
Narrates the adventures of Bianca, a “femme fatale” that plays and uses his admirers to satisfy her whims and selfish purposes. The highlight of the film is the final scene: a tragic finale where the heroine is punished for her wrongdoings.

Velocità (Velocity), 1930. Dir. Tina Cordero, Guido Martina, Pippo Oriani. 12 ‘
Captures the city dynamism combining rotating views, whirling machines, articulated mannequins and the homage to several 20th century artists such as Boccioni, Mondrian, Léger and Kandinsky. All these elements are brought together by futurist painter Oriani and the collaboration of writers Cordero and Martina.

Wednesday April 28th, 7:00 pm, at Fundación Proa’s Auditorium
Entrance free of charge. Limited capacity

In the context of The Universe of Futurism. 1909-1936 exhibition and as part of the related activities designed by Proa to document the reach that Italian Futurism has had in the diverse artistic disciplines, Giancarlo Schiaffini’s concert will explore the impact that Luigi Russolo’s Ruidisimo revolution has had on musical composition.

Inspired by the life and work of artist Umberto Boccioni, Schiffiani composes Ho veduto volare, with vocal works by Silvia Schiavoni. This distinguished composition is a synthesis of diverse languages in dialogue: writing, images, voices and the live performance of both musicians. The images are old photographs, paintings and fragments that reflect the thoughts of the movement-action present in Boccioni’s work.

The Futurist concert Ho veduto volare is the first in a series of events that will take place at Fundación Proa in relation to The Universe of Futurism. 1909-1936 exhibition. From May, Proa will present a programme of Futurist cinema and guided tours of the show conducted by Art specialists.

The performer
Giancarlo Schiaffini (Rome, 1942) is a music composer, trombone and tube player. He improvises and plays mainly contemporary music and jazz. He collaborated in different compositions with musicians such as John Cage, Karole Armitage, Luigi Nono and Giacinto Scelsi.

Organization and production
Istituto Italiano di Cultura de Buenos Aires

Information and reservations
auditorio@proa.org / [54 11] 4104 1000

More information on The Futurist Universe. 1909-1936 exhibition >>

The compilation of films will be shown in the auditorium during museum opening hours presenting an overview on the origins and developments of the Italian Futurism in order to enrich the public understanding of the period and the reach of the movement.

The repertoire includes: The Futurist Adventure (2010, developed by Rodrigo Alonso), La Metrópoli Futurista (2006, directed by Art Media Editori, Vincenzo Capalbo and Marilena Bertozzi), and Giannina Censi. Danzare il Futurismo (1997, directed by Elisa Vaccarino).

The videos are shown continuously in Proa´s Auditorium and accessible at the beginning or end of the exhibition.

The Futurist Adventure, 2010
Duration: 28 minutes
Development: Rodrigo Alonso
Edition: Santiago Recart and Fundación Proa

Art historian Rodrigo Alonso, specially produced the documentary for the current exhibition. With English subtitles, this complete informative panorama displays images and original recordings of the futurist artists, such as Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (“Battaglia”, 1924), and Carmelo Bene (“Contra Venezia Passatista”, 1910), and fragments of the film “Thaïs”, by Anton Giulio Bragaglia (1916).

La Metrópoli Futurista, 2006
Duration: 29 minutes
Idea and direction: Art Media Editori, Vicenzo Capalbo and Marilena Bertozzi
Production: Giubbe Rosse Eventi Culturali

A film that brings together a set of key twentieth century architectural projects in a virtual presentation of the futurist “New City”. The film offers 29 minutes of Futurists´ proposals on a new way of life, with an unconditional faith on technological progress and under the new rules of the emerging industrial society. The audience will have the opportunity of engaging in an architectonical utopia of the period, one never yet explored.

Giannina Censi. Danzare if Futurismo, 1997
Duration: 19 minutes
Idea and direction: Elisa Vaccarino
Archivo del 900, MART

Concluding the compilation of films, we present Giannina Censi. Danzare il Futurismo, depicting the life experiences of Giannina Censi, dancer and single futurist performer, able to express with her body and movements the spirit of Fillipo Tomasso Marinetti´s “parolibere” (freewords) and Enrico Prampolini´s “aeropitture” (aeropainting). For 19 minutes the film displays a rich systematic array of documents and photographic material of the time, a small professional and personal biography on Censi´s life with her personal comments and a warm interview. The video includes reconstructions of her performances, conducted by Censi´s students, in which the emblematic movements of aerodance, that interpret the flight of a plane and other actions inspired by machines of the twentieth century, that fascinated the futurists, are exemplified.

More information on the exhibition The Universe of Futurism. 1909 – 1936 >>

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the 5th edition of Latin Wave: New Films from Latin America, co-organized by Fundación Proa with the sponsorship of Tenaris and Ternium

From April, 29th at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
More information >>

On our 5th anniversary, Latin Wave proudly celebrates the extraordinary work and continuing vitality of cinema from Latin America, with eight films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay, each of which will be shown in Houston for the first time. Don’t miss the opening night party in the Caroline Wiess Law building from 9:30 p.m.-Midnight on Thursday, April 29!

This year’s selection is largely characterized by its departure from the urban center, which has been at the heart of much Latin American cinema in past years. We travel this year to remote and magnificent natural settings, such as the Banco Chinchorro in Mexico, the second largest coral reef on the planet (in Alamar); the Chilean Siete Tazas National Park (in Turistas); La Barra, on the Pacific Coast of Colombia (in El vuelco del cangrejo); the scrubland of the Sertão in the northeast of Brazil (in Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo); a small fishing village on the northern coast of Peru (in Contracorriente); and from a small town in Argentina to Africa and back in a film of breathtaking scope, Historias extraordinarias. Despite its urban context, Jean Charles also represents a departure from the familiar “Latin” setting, focusing on the Brazilian immigrant community in London.

Continuing a Latin Wave tradition, a large number of this year’s selections are debuts by first-time filmmakers. Half of the program consists of operas primas, and the rest are by second- and third-time directors. All the films have competed at the most prestigious international film festivals, many with great success, including Gigante, which won multiple awards at the Berlin Film Festival. We are also particularly proud to welcome Marcelo Gomes, an alumnus from our first edition; he is back in Houston with his second film, Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo.

It is exhilarating to witness these filmmakers break boundaries—either through their choices of original and inspiring stories, or through their unique and provocative approaches to storytelling. We welcome you once again to a marathon four-day immersion in the best and the latest in Latin American cinema.

Monika Wagenberg, Festival Director