Country: Italy
Year: 2011
Duration: 73'
Through the images and the original soundtracks of material conserved at the Archivio Luce, the film is a reflection on the mechanisms behind the consensus-creating factory that was set in motion by Fascism. Just like the regime prepared young boys and girls to become good Fascist citizens, it constructed the image of a nation crucial to maintain international equilibrium, as it glorified its leader and his philosophy. “Every charismatic leader, whatever the era, has always been tempted to construct his popularity through a maniacal care of his image. Benito Mussolini took advantage of the means and the technology at his disposal and was lucky enough to be virtually a contemporary of the birth of what, at the dawn of the 20th century, was the most powerful, popular and widespread media around: cinema. Sensing its extraordinary potential, he created the Istituto Luce to propagate the cult of his personality and to form the “new man” in his image and likeness, another dream of dictators everywhere. In this sense, Mussolini’s “experiment” was paradigmatic. […] It seems like today. And yet it was almost a century ago.”
Biography
film director
Marco Bechis
Marco Bechis (Santiago, Chile, 1957) grew up in Buenos Aires, where he taught at an elementary school. In 1977, he was incarcerated for four months at the secret prison Club Atletico. After he was freed, he was expelled from Argentina for political reasons and went to Milan, where he studied economics and, later, cinema. He lived in Milan, New York, Los Angeles and Paris, working as a photographer and video artist and between 1983 and 1988 he made numerous short films for Rai, including Absent. He debuted in feature films in 1991 with Alambrado, which competed at Locarno and won best film at the Havana Film Festival. His second film, Garage Olimpo (1999), won international notice, participating at the Cannes Film Festival and winning numerous awards. Figli/Hijos (2001) and La terra degli uomini rossi - Birdwatchers (2008) both competed in Venice.
FILMOGRAFIA
filmografia essenziale/essential filmography
Absent (cm, 1984), Alambrado (1991), Garage Olimpo (1999), Figli/Hijos (2001), La terra degli uomini rossi - Birdwatchers (2008), Il sorriso del capo (2011).
Cast
& Credits
regia, soggetto/director, story
Marco Bechis
sceneggiatura/screenplay
Marco Bechis, Gigi Riva
montaggio/film editing
Iacopo Patierno, Marco Bechis
suono/sound
Iacopo Patierno
produzione/production
Cinecittà Luce, Karta Film
distribuzione, vendita all’estero/distribution, world sales
Cinecittà Luce
