Francesco Pasinetti (1911-1949) directed only one full-length film at the age of 23 (The Channel of the Angels, 1934), but his activity is much wider, although nowadays the stereotype of the ones who remember him is still his symbiosis with Venice, his city. After his apprenticeship for the Cineguf, Pasinetti directed Footprints of Giacomo Leopardi , followed in 1942 by his first collection of Venetian films (The Gondola, Pigeons of Venice, Minor Venice), to continue with the “short story” dealing with different genres. One of the most important projects the Regional Committee for the Centenary is working on is the restoration and the accessibility to some of his works which have remained unseen for many years: thanks to this work, which is still in progress, and while waiting for the next presentation of the boxed set that will collect all his production, it is now possible to verify the preview of the Venetian director’s work, who experimented the “didactic documentary” (Footprints of Giacomo Leopardi), the “social documentary” (A New Family is Born), the “industrial documentary” (Piave Boite Vajont) and the artistic documentary (Impressionist Painters).
Special thanks go to the Comitato Regionale per le celebrazioni del Centenario della nascita di Francesco Pasinetti, the Historical Archive of CinecittàLuce (Rome) and the Cineteca Italiana (Milan).
SCREENINGS PROGRAM
Sulle orme di Giacomo Leopardi – Footprints of Giacomo Leopardi
Produzione/Production: LUCE, 1941
Bianco&nero/ black & white; 11’40”
The objective shows Recanati, the city where Giacomo Leopardi was born and spent most of his life. Showing the beloved places of the great poet, the documentary presents some important episodes of his life and explains the home setting, strongly tied to his artistic production.
Nasce una famiglia – A New Family is Born
Produzione/Production: LUCE, 1943
bianco&nero/ black & white; 14’
Realized in a Nursery School of the Opera Nazionale della Protezione della Maternità e dell’Infanzia, it tells the story of a young mother who convinces herself not to leave her newborn in this public institution.
Piave-Boite-Vajont
Produzione/ Production: Fp,1948 ( con la collaborazione degli uffici tecnici della Società Adriatica di Elettricità/ with the collaboration of the technical offices of the Società Adriatica di Elettricità)
Documentary about the hydroelectric establishment of Piave and its tributaries, Boite and Vajont.
I pittori impressionisti –Impressionist Painters
Produzione/ Production: Paramount / Europeo Film, 1948
Documentary realized at the Venice Biennale, it recounts the story of the Impressionists shaped on the pictures of the great retrospective exposition housed in the Germany Pavilion during the first Biennale of Art after World War II. In the spoken comment the biographical information predominate while the camera explores the “fragments” of the “impressionist” quality of the paintings.
Photographic Exposition on Francesco Pasinetti
A photographic exposition on Francesco Pasinetti in the S. Margherita Auditorium: eight pictures represent the work of the director, indoor and outdoor, in the 1930s and 1940s, although not much different from today: as if he were photographing himself. It is not a case if, talking about Pasinetti or his friends and collaborators, we use the word “bottega”. Pasinetti is at the centre of our attention: we can see him while he controls and directs, with his camera always around his neck.
