"Six in Italy" at Ocularis

Six in Italy: Shorts by Antonioni, Greenaway, Mekas, and Others
Sunday, March 6 at 7 pm
Ticket Price $6

Ocularis is very pleased to present “Six in Italy," a program of
documentary, essay, and experimental films by Peter Greenaway, Jacob Burckhardt, Michelangelo Antonioni, Curtis Harrington, Jonas Mekas, and Luigi Comencini. From piercing social criticism to formal investigations of sound and structure, each work showcases a different side of Italian urbanism, with some shorts, like Antonioni's Nettezza Urbana, echoing the narrative impulses of their director's later features.

Intervals by Peter Greenaway (1973) 6 min.

A short examination of structure and sound, this film shot in black and white in Venice presents three sections of similar film to us over the course of six minutes. In the first section a metronome is used to count events in the film. People walk across the frame, sometimes in the foreground, which is accompanied precisely by a different sound. In the second section a male Italian voice can be heard counting through the alphabet. Music by Vivaldi is heard in the third.

Roma by Jacob Burckhardt (2004) 10 min.

"A 'poetic' view of the Modern Ancient city from the point of view of a familiar pedestrian. The stones, water, graffiti, lights, the Pope, cats, people in the streets, couds, markets, and even a few monuments, captured on a Bolex with the texture of black and white film." - J.B.

Nettezza Urbana by Michelangelo Antonioni (1948) 9 min.

"Antonioni's second film, an essay on Roman street sweepers, much of it photographed at dawn and dusk, using the visual methods that appear in his later feature films. From the narration: Apparently we don't care who these sweepers are or how they live, these quiet and humble workers who no one deems worthy of a word or even a stare. Street sweepers are a apart of the city to the same degree as inanimate objects. And yet, no one more than they takes part in the life of the city." - Robert Haller

The Assignation by Curtis Harrington (1952) 7 min.

With an original score by Ernest Gold.

"Filmed in Venice, Italy, this film is an interpretation of the recurring Romantic theme of Death and the Maiden." - C.H.

Travel Song: Italy by Jonas Mekas (1967) 18 min.

"Filmed during my first trip to Italy. Torino. Rome. Asisi. Etc. Brief glimpses, including a glimpse of Pasolini; a lot of single frame activity, Color. I especially like the flowers in Asisi." - J.M.

Bambini in Citta by Luigi Comencini (1946) 15 min.

A documentary short film made right after World War II that was shown to great acclaim at the Cannes and Venice film festivals. He shot it in the streets of Milan, in certain areas that had been devastated by the war, in the stretches outside the city limits, along a canal, and in the interior corridors of various buildings. Some of the backgrounds are grim and yet the children in the foregrounds often live as if in an enraptured world of magic. More than a social document, the film emerges as a testament to the innate joy, adaptability, and optimism of children. Although influenced by De Sica's Sciuscia' (Shoe Shine), it carries none of that classic's tragic weight. Comencini's lyric and loving look at the world of the very young would be a recurrent theme throughout his distinguished career.

Total running time: 65 minutes

Programmed by Sophie Fenwick.

About Ocularis

Ocularis is a 501©3 not-for-profit organization that provides a forum for the exhibition of independent, experimental and documentary film/video and new media, as well as international and repertory cinema. Ocularis was established in 1996 as a rooftop film series catering to local audiences in North Brooklyn. Since then, Ocularis has evolved into a weekly cinema, a producer of collaborative film/video work and an annual summer open-air screening series.

Ocularis screens weekly at:
Galapagos Art & Performance Space.
70 North 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
www.ocularis.net
tel/fax: 718.388.8713