The Agenda of Art – At the cinema

• The divine kite. At the cinema from 11 May
A visionary journey through the forms of art, from painting to theatre, from literature to photography. It looks like this the divine kite, the new film by Mimmo Paladino. Among the most significant interpreters of the Transavantgarde, in this project Paladino wanted a cast of well-known faces at his side: from Toni Servillo to Francesco De Gregori, from Sergio Rubini to Giovanni Veronesi, and then Alessandro Haber, Nino D’Angelo, Peppe Servillo Christine Donadio. The film’s protagonists are an actor and a family of homeless people who, like in a dance, find themselves wandering in the circles of hell among the characters of a Divina Commedia revisited. Will they be able to see the stars again? “I’ve always thought that a film doesn’t replace painting, it doesn’t overlap with it, it’s simply something else. At the same time, however, if you look into the lens, into the rectangle of the camera, you can imagine that that is the space on the canvas,” said the artist.

“The divine comet”, a film by Mimmo Paladino I Courtesy Officine UBU. Photo Pasquale Palmieri ©

• Borromini and Bernini. Challenge to perfection. At the cinema from 15 to 17 May
One of the most talked about and fruitful rivalries in all of art history is told on the big screen: Borromini and Bernini. Challenge to perfection shines the spotlight on Baroque Rome and on two authentic stars of sculpture. Borromini was not yet twenty when he arrived in Rome on foot from Milan, leaving his job as a humble stonemason in the Duomo. It is 1619 and Rome is the center of Western art, ‘the place to be’ for any artist who desires glory. Directed by Giovanni Troilo (Frida. Live life!, Monet’s Water Lilies. A spell of water and light, Power of Rome), the film is the story of a man who deprives himself of everything to pursue a dream, but also of a legendary challenge: the one between Borromini and Bernini, as well as Borromini with himself. A genius so attached to his art that he lives it like a demon that devours him from within, up to choosing death in order to touch eternity.

“Borromini and Bernini. Challenge to perfection”, a film by Giovanni Troilo I Courtesy Nexo Digital

• Daliland. At the cinema from May 25th
New York, 1974. Young James works at the art gallery that will host the next Salvador Dalì exhibition. When the artist himself offers him to become his assistant, the boy thinks he’s dreaming. Thus begins the biopic directed by Mary Harron, presented at the Toronto International Film Festival 2022 and out of competition at the 40th Turin Film Festival, which sees Oscar winner Ben Kingsley in the role of the surrealist genius alongside Barbara Sukowa, Ezra Miller and Christopher Briney. Between lights and shadows, Daliland opens the curtain on the private life and soul of one of the most beloved artists of the twentieth century: beyond the eccentric lifestyle, the glamor and the worldly life, a great void consumes the now elderly painter, devoured by the fear of growing old and by the wounds inflicted by his wife Gala, his former muse, now surrounded by young lovers and obsessed with money.

“Dalìland”, un film di Mary Harron I Courtesy Plaion Pictures