To inaugurate the summer evenings of the "Garden of Video" at the Parco delle Concette Ondavideo, 25 years later, proposes two of its productions focused on the city of Pisa, award-winning: a look at the city of a New York filmmaker and the backstage of his young assistants from Pisa.
Tuesday, July 16 from 9.30 p.m. will be screened the two shorts of Jem Cohen, "City of amber" (1999, 48'), Francesco Andreotti, Lorenzo Garzella, "The eye and the pendulum. Jem Cohen in Pisa" (1999, 34').
Amber City/Città d'ambra portrays an unconventional Pisa, filmed in film and then transferred to video by one of the most relevant independent filmmakers: suspended between ancient and modern, space-time in which eras grow together and remain visible like fossils in amber. The film also tells the story of the city between historical reconstruction, poetry and imagination, past and present events that seem to coexist and dialogue. Winner of the first video prize at the Locarno Film Festival 1999, it has been presented in festivals and events around the world.
The Eye and the Pendulum is a portrait of Jem Cohen working with his 16mm. camera and the Pisa he plays. Two young Pisan assistants of the author (now established professionals) have documented the look, the way to film, the moments of waiting, poetry and irony, fragments of dialogue. A participatory and intense story, which won the "Pirelli Creativity Grand Prix" and the "Backstage Film Festival" and which at the time was accompanied by a publication of "Ondavideo" with photographs and texts by the crew and the director.
Jem Cohen (born 1962) is one of America’s leading independent filmmakers. He has made documentaries and portraits of cities (in particular New York, where he lives), films about and with artists and musicians (including Fugazi and REM), works bordering on documentary and fiction that portray "non-places" and marginalized lives, homages to underground masters (including Jonas Mekas), travel diaries and installations.
For more information: https://www.jemcohenfilms.com/
Francesco Andreotti and Lorenzo Garzella have been working for many years in the field of independent production and documentary, also with organizational and management activities, and carry out training activities (shooting and editing) at the University of Pisa. In 1999 they were part of a group of university students (including Valentina Pasquali) and the video school "The Camels" by Daniele Segre (with Irene Floriani) who had followed Cohen in the preparation and filming of the film.
The Garden of the video sees the contribution of the Pisa Foundation, the patronage of the Municipality of Pisa and the collaboration of the film club Arsenale.
