Co-presented with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Sydney the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, and Cinema Reborn.
Irreverent, rule-breaking and impossible to define, Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller broke ground as the first woman to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar in 1977. An unabashed feminist and non-conformist, her films take the absurdities of society and turn them on their heads – the results are sometimes witty, sometimes shocking, always political. We’re celebrating her work with seven of her best films.
The Lizards (1963) and Ciao, Professore! (1992) will be introduced by Professor Jane Mills of the School of the Arts & Media University of New South Wales. Jane is a writer, lecturer, editor, member of the Film Advisory panel for the Sydney Film Festival and Associate Programmer for the Antenna Documentary Festival.
The Seduction of Mimi (1972) and Swept Away (1974) will be introduced by Dr. Blythe Worthy of the English Department at the University of Sydney. Blythe is a postdoctoral researcher, tutor, Documentary, Film and Television Editor at the Australian Journal of American Studies and Coordinator of the Sydney Literature and Cinema Network.
Love and Anarchy (1973) will be introduced by Associate Professor Bruce Isaacs, who teaches Film Studies at the University of Sydney and is currently working on a large research project entitled ‘The Making of the Modern Action Film’. Read his ‘Great Movie Scenes’ column in The Conversation.
All Screwed Up (1974) will be introduced by Danielle McGrane, an entertainment reporter/producer and critic specialising in music, film and TV who regularly appears on ABC 702 Sydney’s Richard Glover critics show talking film and music.
Seven Beauties (1975) will be introduced by Associate Professor Giorgia Alu, who teaches Italian Studies at the University of Sydney. Her research interests range from modern and contemporary Italian literature, Italian cultural and social history to comparative literature and visual studies.
Lina Wertmüller, original name Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spañol von Braueich, (born August 14, 1928, Rome, Italy), Italian film director and screenwriter noted for her comedies focusing on the eternal battle of the sexes and on contemporary political and social issues. In 1977 she became the first woman to receive an Academy Award nomination for best director.Wertmüller graduated from the Academy of Theatre in Rome in 1951 and then held various jobs as a puppeteer, actress, stage manager, and writer. She was an assistant to the director Federico Fellini, notably working on the classic Otto e mezzo (1963; 81/2. She then wrote and directed her first film, I basilischi (1963; The Lizards). At about this time she became friends with the actor Giancarlo Giannini, who would star in most of her subsequent films.
Wertmüller achieved international fame with her fifth film, Mimi metallurgico ferito nell’onore (1972; variously entitled The Seduction of Mimi or Mimi the Metalworker, Wounded in Honour), a satire on sexual hypocrisy and changing social mores. Her next picture was film d’amore e d’anarchia… (1973; Love and Anarchy), about an anarchist torn between his plot to assassinate Benito Mussolini and his love for a prostitute who has given him shelter in a Rome brothel. Wertmüller’s two finest films are Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare d’agosto (1974; Swept Away), a witty comedy in which a poor sailor establishes his dominance over a haughty rich woman while they are marooned on a deserted island, and Pasqualino settebellezze (1975; Seven Beauties), a film about an Italian dandy who must betray all moral values while trying to survive World War II and his internment in a Nazi death camp. For the latter, Wertmüller made history with her Academy Award nomination for best director. She also garnered an Oscar nod for her screenplay.
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