Friday March 31, 7PM
Logan Center for the Arts, Screening Room 201
"Porta Maggiore—a work in progress by Marco G. Ferrari"
Marco G. Ferrari (CMS lecturer and DoVA alumnus) will present a series of past works that highlight his filmmaking approach of “self into otherness” anchoring his most recent work in progress, Porta Maggiore.
Porta Maggiore is a documentary film that follows a director’s search for a story as he explores the relationship between the built and natural environments of the eastern periphery of the Roman suburbs, known as Roma Est. Anchoring the journey is the discovery of the central location of the film––Lago Ex Snia, a recent naturally formed lake and ecosystem created through accidental and illegal human intervention, located within an abandoned viscose factory complex. The filmmaker’s interaction with the community that tries to preserve the lake in face of speculation and the privatization of public space, ultimately changes the filmmaker’s course, putting into question the limits of his craft, his identity as director and the nature of transformation.
Within a circle a triangle attempts to break free from a square––Rooted in observational, fictional and performance-based film techniques the process of attempting the production of the film will become the story of the director’s journey, creating a collection of interconnected narratives that will be assembled in a feature-length film and video installation. The work is informed by a series of interrelated enquiries including an attempt to link the process of filmmaking to the process of individuation; a search for liminal spaces of the periphery and the sense of alienation behind them; to question the forms of resistance and acceptance within the process of change; and the desire to find unity between the individual and collective, in a supposed ‘post-fascist’ culture.
This presentation is in connection with the Saturday 4/1 “Documentary Production 2023 Screening—Films by UChicago Students”. The event showcases the creative work made by University of Chicago students produced during Ferrari’s Documentary Production two-quarter sequence class (fall 2022 & winter 2023).
Presented by the Film Studies Center with support from the Department of Cinema and Media Studies and the Open Practice Committee in the Department of Visual Arts