The 23 evening we closed the Cinema Solubile in Rome.

I want only here to register the sensation I had of the event, is based on notes that i wrote down right after and some of the filtered thinking that followed.

First evening:

An intimate evening in Kollatino’s cinema nicely put up for the occasion. Public + White Chairs + Cinema Screen. Nice informal atmosphere between the people. Mainly makers are present and a bunch of friends. Introduction is given through program of shorts and the vision of the feature film: “Venus In Furs”.
Shorts program included works by Sagi Groner, Judith Witteman, Arijn Boerstra, Catherine Henegan and Aryan Kaganoff plus a selection of 16″ works from the female participants of Worm film Workshop in Rotterdam (names will follow).

The evening proceeded with some selected reading from the futurist manifesto of Cinema, from the manifesto fo Bruno Corra “Abstract Cinema” and from other futurist texts, mainly by Marinetti, of whom a piece of “Democrazia Futurista” about the inutility of the police has been received with incredulity by the public.

music was provided with generosity by Fausto Casara, Matteo Pezzolet and as a special guest directly from Holland Hansko Visser. And I am very thankful for the great work they did with sound. Some technical misunderstandings forbid to have projections from my laptop so we could not use neither “Man with the Movie Camera” neither the prepared slides to introduce futurist sound poetry and aesthetics. I did without visuals to a unsure result. Hope it was clear enough.

The Second evening:
Huge hangar-like space with carved within a smaller space that is the cinema area. We start giving the proper homage a clip that had missed a proper start the day before: Judith Witteman with “Sexto senso”, a collection of two clips that record her performances. Follows some sound poetry improvisation over Dziga Vertov’s “Man with a Movie Camera”. The improvised Ensemble starts very concentrated and immediately warms up to a consistent level of modulated noise. Personally i feel moved when I join in with my “random meaningless selection of futurist crap”. Second part of the show was less precise but still made up with great musical talent and improvisation skill. In the second part I read from my notebook. Most of that stuff came directly from my roman frustrated life. I don’t know if someone found himself in the subway train with me…

Some from the public left some of the public wanted more; this is what Cinema Solubile is about. Sorry for those who don’t manage to be part of it in any other way than in public that expects to be entertained, more sorry for those who ware a raincoat over their feelings and pass in anything without getting wet.

music for the evening by ROM Ensamble and Hansko Visser.

Follows the presentation of the clips:
My overall impression is that the quality of all works is quite outstanding. Possibly one of the best so far.

Opens the evening Massimo Rossi. Veteran of Pissignano edition, he worked in the Kollatino to a very nicely carved mix of visual effects and improvised shooting. Moving at ease between the props in the Santasangre space. The title he works out is “Lust is a Force”. The “indecent” 1913 manifesto by Valentine de St. Point becomes a pulp of a banana, caressed by hands emerging from the darkness of the past, that mysteriously regain her shape. It seems that it is suggesting that in the age were the effects of the force are more evident to find some traces of lust we shall go back in time, invert entropy, revive the dead. All with the power of imagination and camera.

Stefano Odoardi “Democrazia” attributes to a masked woman with a red blind, the subversive act of painting the fountain of Trevi in red. A represantation of subversion as a fashion ithem? A plea of guilt of the blind artist? a fetish prone justice? The beautiful eyes blindfolded, the bitter voice, the concession to fashionable items to expand sensations (opera sound via an ipod) and a plea to “creativity is the sole democracy” is vaguely ironic. After the viewing a suspended crowd sees the maker and his actress still blinded, coming on stage to destroy the piece. Finally unblinded by the destructive and liberating act the lady can show her face and receive our convinced applause. A round performance with various levels of symbolism and without the prejudice of democracy. Bravo.

Moskito Film “C’e’ vita sotto terra” (there is life underground) explored the surface to reflect the underground. The film starts observing the paved roman road from a unlikely angle. The shadows of the cars passing reverberate in the sound of underground as a peeping rat that i have imagined looking from the past of his myths the harsh reality of nowadays indifference. All passions are shades of gray, reality blinds and deaf us with cliches?
An elevator climbing from the underground brings back to life a dangerous Marinetti (or a dangerous impostor?). Is War still the only Hygiene or is a dangerous game for “shopkeepers”? Victor and Maartje seems to believe in both possibility. No contradiction: is elasticity!

AJ Sikabonyi
AJ Sikabonyi futursitically refuses to bend to the theme he got from the hat. The jury does not notice. He seems stronger than destiny. Or maybe he really cares. His editing is nervous, reminds me a sculptor that scrapes away layer after layer of precious marble with fury, looking for a shape that he can’t find yet. Alex cares a lot about what he wants to say. An aviator, or an astronaut, a memory from past or future is the same, becomes a trajectory. Burning maybe in glory, burning from hate and pure will, the pilot drives his meteor on the S. Peter’s Cathedral. A frame from Nagasaki 5′ before the bomb.
Alex admits with me he did not know that one of the first poems of Marinetti was “le monoplan du pape”, were a heroic pilot attempts the same gesture. Alex does not know about the futurist aviator Keller, that flies over S. Peter in 1919 to throw a symbolic “homage” to the pope of the same type (a pot of shit was dropped on the parliament the same day)… Alex film moved me, and I must thank him for being the alien he is. We will meet again i suppose :)

Offucina “Antinomie e paradossi di una scopata a lume di candela”
The title of the film can be translated as:”antinomies and paradoxes of a candlelight fuck”.
Andrea directs a credible and really talented Adriana in an enjoyable, hironic, devastating trip into Kollatino underground. Red light all over, the woman prepares for her a clean job. The candle light is more for heating up bodies and desires than a concession to romanticism. The desperate and at the same time hilarious “scopata” memorable. For the non english speakers between you, a “scopata” that is gergal for “a fuck” also means the use of “scopa” that is a broom. To broom up the place and to fuck so deserve the same word. A great work from the Offucina-lis that deserve a special mention in my personal top 3 of the evening.

RED
That is the title that Alessandro Rosa with Licoris Lelli took from the Hat. Non ROSSO but RED. The result, a Hard disk collapse and two editing further, is my favorite film of the night. A faceless female body in a bathtub (Licoris herself). Hot shots of small movements, bondage. The water becomes milk and plastic tubes bring red in and black out. Black ink from the mouth, red blood in the milk. The sensual body becomes a fetish for a self inflicted torment of a initiate. Magic realism and good lighting technique. Visually striking. Misses maybe a real “finale”, but no one believes is made in 23 hours… I would like to see your other works man! This solubile made my day. You can get familiar with their work on their website following this link: http://www.dehomag.net/

IL PRINCIPE FELICE (the happy prince)
This is probably the last time i push myself to make a solubile. This because i love too much filming to maintain the necessary detachment and do something quick without having my soul completely dragged away from the performance and drown in the “thing”. The Happy prince is not a futurist movie. Is a sad look around to the crumbling social structures. Is a self portrait i sketched with my fotocamera and the help of a fantastic Hansko Visser, that in that has been the actor, the inventor, the musician and the muse. AGH! The happy prince is edited by share luck and is another masterpiece by far one of the best things that I have not done (he did me I must say).
The responsibility for the outcome is just mine… and NO, it did not deserved much praise :)

Off!cine
Off!cine
A big piece of (white rock? quartz?) were some cinema is dissolving upon. Litterally, because after some time we watch we see that the celluloid melts, the images fade in a dreadfull dissolving manner. A dancer? A prophet? Biblical scenes and chemical noise projected and re-adited inside what at the end is revealed as a block of ice. The ice refuses to melt. Striking piece. With the signature of Luca Manes and Danilo Torre

Sayaka Yorio
Sayaka’s personality and kind japan freshness delighted us all. It has been fun to have her around, dragging her from Rotterdam to Rome, and dispaching her as a package from a place to the other. She is a truly talented artist and a fairy. Her film was sabotated by me twice: I lost her SD card were her materials were for 2 hours, and I have also destroyed her first cut of the film with a wrong saving from the editing program. She survived, and served a strange dreamy film of 2 minutes. She also tried to direct the noise making machine live to allow her to sing. They are rough, ungentle monsters like me, and we did not let you much space… Still, we all loved you very much, and pain from love is a necessary accessory.

PS
there are omissions in this post, but if I wait to have everything ready it will never come out. If you have some pics of the evening, or fragments or notes feel free to comment or to send them directly to me freddbomba( at ) gmail.com.

THANKS