21:00 - Teatro Verdi Pordenone
L’ARZIGOGOLO (IT 1924; 88 min)
by Mario Almirante with Italia Almirante Manzini
Musical Accompaniment: Stephen Horne, Frank Bockius, Elizabeth-Jane Baldry

Filmed between September and October 1923, L'arzigogolo was the "superfilm" – to borrow the term used by some contemporary critics – that became Italia Almirante Manzini's farewell to cinema audiences, before she embarked on the lengthy theatrical tour that took her back to the stages of Italy, and later South America. With this sumptuous Renaissance-set drama, based on Sem Benelli's "burlesque poem" and featuring spectacular costumes designed by the legendary theatrical costumier Caramba, Alba Film demonstrated that Italian cinema could still compete with the best international productions, as long as it made quality films. L'arzigogolo was a triumph: welcomed enthusiastically by critics and audiences alike, it became one of the season's biggest hits. In La Rivista Cinematografica (10.02.1924), "Gulliver" rapturously approved of the film's fidelity to Benelli's vision, praising "the core of thought, the complexity of the characters, the varied play of scenery and choreography, the originality and theatrical interest, the style, which is logic, rule, guidance and poetry, all contained within a transparent vision."
After tracking down a black-and-white copy of the film in Brazil, the Cineteca del Friuli identified a beautiful, if incomplete, nitrate print within a recently acquired film collection. Following this discovery, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin and the Cineteca del Friuli, in collaboration with the Cinemateca Brasileira in São Paulo, began the restoration of the film, which will premiere at the Giornate.