SUNDAY, 9 JUNE
CINEMA MASSIMO – MNC SALA SOLDATI
3.30 PM
Starting from his most recent film, this selection of shorts by Bruno Bozzetto discloses his world view – original and entertaining, yet bitter and sharp – of the past, the present, and of an envisioned future. Convinced that animated narrative can speak to both adults and children, the director-animator tells stories in which he shares his ideas on the environmental crisis, the relationship between man and nature, man and man, and an unresolved history that will continue endlessly.
Sapiens?
PRODUCTION
STUDIO BOZZETTO
RAI KIDS
ITALIA 2023, 22’
A three-part film (three shorts) with a classical music soundtrack about humans and their relationship with nature and society. Diverse themes that share a common denominator: a love of violence and non-acceptance of diversity. An extreme solution would be to have a world without humans.
Part One
Against the melodrama of Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Giorno di Regno, the film shows the means of destruction that man has created to fight innumerable wars of futile reason.
Part Two
Chopin’s Etude, Op. 10 no. 3 accompanies a spider trying to climb out of a sink it accidentally fell into.
Part Three
The death of animal species due to human activity since humans inhabited the Earth is accompanied by Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture.
Una vita in scatola
ITALIA 1967, 6’
The life cycle told in only 6 minutes from the perspective of alienation in modern society.
Il Signor Rossi a Venezia
ITALIA 1974, 12’
Signor Rossi is in Venice against his wishes. His adventures take place in an increasingly unpleasant lagoon, aboard overloaded and unsafe water buses, in a Venice much different from postcard pictures.
Seventh and final short in the series Il signor Rossi, followed by the first feature entitled Il signor Rossi cerca la felicità (1976).
Mister Tao
ITALIA 1988, 3’
The mountain top is usually the end of a climb, but for brave, little Mr Tao, a peak is merely a stop on his continuous search, which may never end.
Winner of the Golden Bear award at the 1990 Berlinale.
Cavallette
ITALIA 1990, 9’
Human history retold through battles, rivalries, wars, and genocides – violent death. Cricket history is different…
Oscar nominated 1991.
Big Bang
ITALIA 1990, 4’
Consumerism produces enormous amounts of trash. What can be done to dispose it? Here’s a solution to the problem with unavoidable consequences.
Neuro
ITALIA 2004, 3’
A glimpse into a “normal” condominium that reveals how people live today.
Il bello della differenza
ITALIA 2006, 1’24”
A symbolic film centering on the concept that “difference” drives the world.
Bruno Bozzetto, world-famous director, animator, and designer debuted with his first animated short entitled Tapum, la storia delle armi (1958) to public and critical acclaim. His character Sig. Rossi appeared in a series of shorts, followed by the features West&Soda (1965), Vip mio fratello Superuomo (1968), Il Signor Rossi cerca la felicità (1975), Allegro non troppo (1976), along with many other shorts, including the award-winning Una vita in scatola, Mister Tao, Cavallette, Europa Italia, plus a popular science series for the Quark and Superquark TV programs created and conducted by Piero Angela. In 1960 he founded Bruno Bozzetto Film, a touchstone for artists and cineastes who helped expand Italian animated film, which now operates as the production company Bozzetto&Co.
