settima

Italy

L'uomo più velenoso del cobra [The Man More Venomous Than the Cobra / Human Cobras] (Bitto Albertini, 1971)

May

19

L'uomo più velenoso del cobra (1971)

Leslie (Erika Blanc) and Tony Garden (George Ardisson). DP: Emilio Foriscot.

“For a handful of coins!”

La caduta degli dei (Götterdämmerung) [The Damned] (Luchino Visconti, 1969)

May

18

Visit Your Relatives Day

La caduta degli dei (Götterdämmerung) (1969)

Martin Von Essenbeck (Helmut Berger) entertains the family. DPs: Pasqualino De Santis & Armando Nannuzzi.

A family gathering on Visit Your Relatives Day (USA)

“You must realize that today in Germany anything can happen, even the improbable, and it's just the beginning, Frederick. Personal morals are dead. We are an elite society where everything is permissible. These are Hitler's words. My dear Frederick, even you should give them some thought.”

– Aschenbach

The wealthy Von Essenbecks gather for a family dinner party. There is entertainment.

Week-end (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

May

9

UN Global Road Safety Week

Week-end (1967)

A terrible, bloody, car crash. There's cars on fire and several injured sprawled around. A lucky survivor exclaims MY HERMÈS HANDBAG! DP: Raoul Coutard.

A traffic accident: UN Global Road Safety Week *

“My Hermès handbag!”

– Corinne

The bourgeois make their way to the countryside, and find themselves in a cacophony of car crashes, primitive urges, and political uprisings.

 

* This actually takes places from May 12 to May 18, 2025.

Stromboli (Terra di Dio) [Stromboli] (Roberto Rossellini, 1950)

May

8

birthdays

Stromboli (Terra di Dio) (1950)

Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman on set on Sardinia. In the background the house Bergman's character moves into with her husband. DP: Otello Martelli.

May 8 is both director Rossellini and Bergman's character Karen's #birthday.

“What mystery, what beauty.”

– Karen

Le mépris [Contempt] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)

May

5

Europe Day

Le mépris (1963)

Michel Piccoli, director Fritz Lang, Jack Palance, and director Jean-Luc Godard behind the scenes. The clapperboard held by Godard is for the movie that Lang's working on in Le Mépris, an adaption of Homer's Odyssey. DP: Raoul Coutard.

A director from the EU for Europe Day

“Producers are something I can easily do without”

– Fritz Lang

A film in a film, the former directed by Fritz Lang, directed by Godard.

Todo modo [One Way or Another] (Elio Petri, 1976)

May

1

National Day of Prayer

Todo modo (1976)

M. (Gian Maria Volontè) speaks to the gathered elite while a gypsum Christ multiplies bread and fishes. DP: Luigi Kuveiller.

A spiritual theme for the National Day of Prayer (USA)

“Have you ever tried to dress as a priest? Try it, at least once. It's a bit like being a woman. In summer the breeze enters under the genitals. You can go without briefs. Priests are half men and half women.”

– Don Gaetano

Inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, Italy's political leaders, industrialists, bankers, and business leaders gather for a retreat as an atonement for their past crimes of corruption and unethical practices, and to reinforce their power.

Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate [The Bloodstained Butterfly] (Duccio Tessari, 1971)

Apr

26

Fri

Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate (1971)

Sarah Marchi (Wendy D'Olive) with Giorgio (Helmut Berger) in the background, just out of focus behind her. DP: Carlo Carlini.

“Because, in the way I see it, the killer could only be one of two types. Either a person who was seized by a sudden impulse and in all probability has no police record, or else, a sex maniac.”

Prigionieri della guerra [Prisoners of War] (Yervant Gianikian + Angela Ricci Lucchi, 1995)

Apr

24

Armenian genocide

Prigionieri della guerra (1995)

Horse-pulled carts arrive at a cross (via). DPs: Yervant Gianikian & Angela Ricci Lucchi.

A World War I film: a day in recognition of the forced deportations and genocide in Armenia, 1915 — 1923.

“Parfois ils disent que nos images sont esthétiques, mais nous disons que les images esthétiques sont des images hautement étiques. Pour nous éthique et esthétique marchent ensemble. Re-filmer signifie re-signifier.”

– Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi in conversation with Daniele Dottorini, 2007 (via)

Re-purposed propaganda reels show citizens – displaced, dehumanised – turned into prisoners of war, and finally into corpses.

Una giornata particolare [A Special Day] (Ettore Scola, 1977)

Apr

19

National Hanging Out Day

Una giornata particolare (1977)

Antonietta (Sophia Loren) and Gabriele (Marcelo Mastroianni) on the roof of their building, clean sheets like a fort around them. DP: Pasqualino De Santis.

A clothesline in support of Project Laundry List's National Hanging Out Day (USA)

– As they say, 'Tidiness is the virtue of a mediocre mind.'

– Then I'm a genius.

L'eclisse del 17 aprile [An Eclipse of the Sun] (1912)

Apr

17

1912

L'eclisse del 17 aprile (1912)

Scientists in impeccable suits observing the 1912 solar eclipse. The colour used for tinting this scene, a turquoise, indicates moonlight/dusk. Image source: Cineteca di Bologna (via).