Antonioni Classic Revived At BAM
Written by: FFT Webmaster | August 19th, 2011
One of the cinema classics of the 1960s, Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s RED DESERT (1964) will receive a rare 10 day presentation at the BAMcinématek from September 2 to 11. The Technicolor masterpiece, the director’s first work in color, stands as a formally exquisite cinematic achievement in the director’s singular career. The film, which won the Golden Lion Award for Best Picture at the Venice Film Festival, stars European arthouse icon Monica Vitti as a lost woman and young mother in a desolate mining town who looks to others for solace and comfort. Irish acting legend Richard Harris is a mining engineer who falls for her. With help of brilliant cinematographer Carlo Di Palma, Antonioni gave the Technicolor palette a sulfur-yellow glaze, making it one of the most innovative uses of color cinematography in the history of cinema. The film also features a synthesized electronic score by Vittorio Gelmetti that accompanies a more traditional lush score by the director’s longtime collaborator Giovanni Fusco. For more information on this and other series, visit: www.bam.org