regia, sceneggiatura,
suono, produttori/
directors, screenplay,
sound, producers
Patricia Boillat,
Elena Gugliuzza
fotografia/cinematography
Patricia Boillat
montaggio/film editing
Elena Gugliuzza
musica/music
Nino Rota,
Peer Raben
produzione/production
La Boite Visual Art
ABSENCE
On January 14, 1968, the earthquake in Valle Bellice razed various
villages to the ground, forcing the inhabitants of the local communities
to leave their homes. Over forty years later, things are still the same:
the ruins of old Gibellina, of new Gibellina and of Poggioreale form
a ghostly landscape that is suspended in time, in which only the sound
of the wind disrupts the silence. The theater, which was destroyed and
vandalized just after the earthquake, has become the symbol of this
abandonment, while the rehearsals of the last concert, that never took
place, echo in the background in memory of the theater’s original
function.
“Pictures recorded more than five years ago, were the subject of a lot
of creative speculations, of confrontations – it’s a choral work – of
discouragements (sometimes) and of enthusiasms (often). In the last
months, a tabula rasa was favourable to find again the feelings felt
during the shooting, and to tune our imaginaries... The continuation
of a subjective path started with C.A.L.L.E., second chapter of a future
trilogy, Absence tells about non-places suspended and maybe destined
to oblivion…”
Patricia Boillat
Patricia Boillat (Bern, Switzerland)
made her first feature film, L’étoile de
néant, in 1974. She then turned to video
experimentation and in 1986 she helped
found Zone 33, a postproduction area in
Bern dedicated to images and sound.
The next year she began a collaboration
that lasted over ten years with the THX
Group of George Lucas to make avantgarde
cinemas. In 1996 she created the
atelier La Boite Visual Art.
FILMOGRAPHY
(Updated to the last partecipation to TFF)
Patricia Boillat:
L’étoile de néant (1974), Le pont
(cm, 1980), Energy Show (cm, 2000).
Patricia Boillat, Elena Guigliuzza:
Nando, andata e ritorno (doc., 2002),
C.A.L.L.E. (cm, 2004), Due tempi (cm,
doc., 2004), Trojan Horse (cm, anim.,
2006), Coup d’état (cm, doc., 2007),
BlackBox3 the Film (cm, doc., 2008),
Absence (cm, 2009).
Elena Gugliuzza
Elena Gugliuzza (Palermo, Italy)
graduated in directing and editing
from the International Conservatory
of Audiovisual Science in Lugano.
From 1996 to 2001 she was the head
of editing at the postproduction
company Anteprima. In 1997, she began
collaborating with the atelier La Boite
Visual Art and since 2002 she has been
making films with Patricia Boillat.
FILMOGRAPHY
(Updated to the last partecipation to TFF)
filmografia essenziale/
essential filmography
Elena Gugliuzza:
A sfondo blu (cm, 1996).
Patricia Boillat, Elena Guigliuzza:
Nando, andata e ritorno (doc., 2002),
C.A.L.L.E. (cm, 2004), Due tempi (cm,
doc., 2004), Trojan Horse (cm, anim.,
2006), Coup d’état (cm, doc., 2007),
BlackBox3 the Film (cm, doc., 2008),
Absence (cm, 2009).
