Thursday, September 20, 2012

Fellini on the Grand Canal


Are you in Venice right now, or will you be before the 30th of September? Would you like to have a fine exhibition in a palazzo on the Grand Canal entirely to yourself to enjoy? Do you like Federico Fellini? How about Marcello Mastroianni or Anouk Aimée? 

Paul Ronald photo © Archivio Storico del Cinema/AFE, Roma


If you answered yes to at least two of the above questions (the first one being the most important), then the Palazzo Benzon and its exhibit Fellini: Otto e Mezzo is the place for you during the next 10 days. Featuring the color photographs of Paul Ronald taken on set, the exhibit offers a fresh perspective on Fellini's black-and-white masterpiece. Along with candid photos of the film's lead and supporting actors, it includes beautifully-printed color images of scenes that you instantly recognize from the original film and yet also seem to be seeing for the first time.

A few iPads perched on stands among the exhibition offer interactive features in a number of languages, such as interviews with the actors, and even the original movie itself.

And not the least enjoyable aspect of this utterly enjoyable exhibit is that, aside from the gallery employee who leads you up to the portego/gallery of the piano nobile and remains discreetly as your chaperone, I suspect that you are likely to find yourself taking this all in in splendid peace. In a city of crowds and crowded venues, the Palazzo Benzon (reached most quickly from the Sant' Angelo vaporetto stop) is far enough off the standard tourist routes to avoid casual or accidental detection. Which may not be ideal for the Fellini Foundation for Cinema, but is sure to be appreciated by any lover of Fellini, who gets the chance to savor these materials to the fullest.

I plan on returning for a longer viewing. 

The exhibition is open from noon until 6 pm throughout the remainder of its run, and is free of charge.


9 comments:

  1. I plan on returning for a longer viewing. ///

    That's my motto! :)

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    1. I guess mine, too. Though I've yet to manage in regards to the Fellini show.

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  2. For me it's a formula to employ when I'm not in the mood for art or see something not entirely absorbing. I give a second try but less than half the times. Sometimes I regret not going back once more. There was an exhibition of William Blake and Romantics in Moscow, and the images were so numerous and overwhelming I had to give some of them just a passing glance. Something distracted me from visiting again. Later I've bought a book on the artist in repentance:)

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    1. I didn't get a chance to return to the Fellini until the 30th--and was really looking forward to seeing it when I had time to enjoy it. I showed up and, along with two other people who happened to arrive at the same time, found out that it was closed. I guess the large sign announcing the dates of the show did not mean THROUGH the 30th of September but only UNTIL the 30th. Or, because the attendance was rather low, they simply decided to knock off a day or two early. In any case, I too may resort to ordering the book of the show, though the reproductions were not great.

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    2. I was with my Italian friend at the World Press Photo exhibition in Moscow, the halls were crowded, and she told me that in Italy such event is likely to attract 10 - 15 viewers a day, not the hundreds that are here right now, at this moment.

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  3. Jackie, if you're...organic and not just a program, please consider this: spamming is BAD. It really is. You are faking appreciation of the blog's author work in a way that is not subtle at all and using this very thoughtful and endearing journal for your "guerilla advertising".

    It's a shame.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know why they--whether individuals or programs--bother. Or, well, I know why, but they still just get deleted....

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  4. To get past the verification a "Jackie" should be human, I think...

    Before I set the same barriers in my LiveJournal it was flooded with spam, and most of the comments began like these you've deleted - Keep on doing the great job, blah-blah, great journal, I'm ecstatic! - And a link at the end.

    It's something like a date rape: parole di burro at the beginning and a true purpose at the conclusion.

    I hate all that stuff, it's degrading.

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    Replies
    1. I agree. I guess humans have an infinite capacity to come up with new kinds of pollution...

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