Donations of 2020

Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay

Originally published on this site here, in Italian.

As already mentioned in a previous post, and like every year since its creation, this site has decided to start 2020 with a small donation to artistic or cultural projects.

A drop in the sea, it is true, but a drop in the midst of many others, among which I hope you can be there too.

Culture belongs to everyone, but precisely for this reason we are called to support it, within the limits of our possibilities.

For this reason, this year too I chose three projects (more precisely, four) to which a total sum of 100.00 euros was donated, divided among them.

They are projects still in the pipeline, and therefore it is still possible, if interested, to continue to support them.

Let’s see them immediately!

C’ERA UNA VOLTA HOLLYWOOD

Once upon a time Hollywood is a project of the publishing house East of the equator. As the subtitle says, from Ghost to Despicable Me – twenty years of American genre cinema, it is a book on American cinema in recent years (in particular, the years considered range from 1990 to 2010).

More than an essay, it is a collection of reviews written by the critic Alberto Castellano for the newspaper Il Mattino di Napoli.

Such a project can only seem interesting to those who love cinema and journalism, both to discover or deepen an author or a topic and to improve, by reading the practical results published in a daily historian, the writing technique.

For this reason I decided to support this project with the sum of € 18.

For those interested, I point out that the project is still active, and that donations are possible until March 31, 2020.

Link to the project

A WOMAN WALKS INTO A BANK: A SHORT FILM

Cover from the Twitter page of the project

As soon as I stock the icon of this film project on Kickstarter and the Latvian title, the first name that came to my mind is that of Patricia Hearst, American heiress of the immense Hearst heritage which, in 1974, was first kidnapped and then co-opted by the far-left wing terrorist organization Symbionese Liberation Army. And, in fact, I must say that I was not wrong.

The story of Patricia Hearst, who in some respects could remind us of the crime of plagio (which also in Italy, where now is abolished, had enough to do with politics), is so famous that it’s been filmed or honored in more than one movie or tv series. I, in particular, remember having heard of it the first time while I inquired about the film Cecil B. Demented by the great John Waters, who, moreover, had already hired the famous heiress for his Cry Baby and Serial mom.

Here, however, we are not only the historical re-enactment (always welcome, however), but also the transposition on the screen of today’s political dramas: the director and producer Tom Brennan wonders how easy it is today to slip into extremism, and how much it is possible today (perhaps without carrying out a kidnapping) to convince others to adhere to their positions.

And then, perhaps, the story of Patricia Hearst is not so much the subject of the short film.

Our inconsistency, our schizophrenia, our regime of “pathological alternation” between the political proposals that we approve from time to time,, and not just in the UK: after decades and after strenuous defenses, in Italy we realize that the Workers’ Statute is old and needs to be changed; then the Jobs Act is enacted; but the Jobs Act is not good; then we opt for Di Maio’s basic income; but the income, even for the pickaxe shots received during the processing, turns out to be a failure; then we ask for the flat tax, which is also proposed by the same politicians that changed the above basic income for the worse during its processing. And this could be said for the thousand political proposals elaborated by the thousand parties in the field, for each of which, forgetting that there is an opposition, first we vote and then repeat “let them work”, as if those who make politics did not know of the existence of an opposition or even as if, when they were in the opposition, they had been silent to let others work.

Here then, perhaps, in the age of uncertainty, in the era of post-truth, the real object of this short film.

I support it with the amazing sum of 19 pounds (corresponding to about 22 euros). For those who wish, it is possible to donate until February 14.

Link to the project

GLI ULTIMI GIORNI DELL’UMANITA’ – UN (NON) FILM DI ENRICO GHEZZI E MALASTRADAFILM

Enrico Ghezzi is a fundamental figure for the spread of cinematographic culture in Italy: RAI3, perhaps the only public channel of the old analogica TV capable of truly making cultural insights that go beyond the school subsidiary, would not be the same without the work of Ghezzi.

In particular, Enrico Ghezzi is responsible for two historical broadcasts of the channel: Blob and Fuori Orario. The first is perhaps the first example in Italy of poop, that is a mix in comic (in the case of Blob, satirical) tone of pre-existing videos, which Blob picks up from the television broadcasts of the day or immediately preceding days. The second, however, is a real must for movie lovers.

On Fuori Orario, which, as the name implies, is aired at “impossible” times (i.e. late at night), Enrico Ghezzi presents for years and years the unknown cinema, never seen, maybe even never restored by the meritorious Cineteca di Bologna.

On Fuori Orario, the writer was able to discover Ciprì and Maresco, the Japanese cinema, some frames of a silent jewel, Goketsu Jiraya, inspired by the famous Japanese legend of the samurai Jiraya, accompanied by a giant toad, and his adventure companion Tsunade (see under Naruto). All surrounded by a memorable opening and the equally memorable out of sync words by Ghezzi himself.

This project wants to resume around 700 hours of footage, present in Ghezzi’s private archive, and make a 100-minute film.

I personally can only approve and support this idea, and I support it with the sum of 20,00 euros.

Donations close in 117 days, which are expected to take place on May 31 next.

Link to the project

HAXAN: THE ESOTERIC CUT – NEW 4K TRANSFER AND RESTORATION

I have to tell the truth, I couldn’t resist choosing this fourth “unscheduled” project too. I was undecided until the last minute, but in the end, considering that I wasn’t spending the full amount, I decided to support this too.

For the uninitiated, Häxan is a 1922 film by Danish director Benjamin Christensen, in which we see, as the subtitle says, witchcraft through the ages.

The fans of cinema and esotericism will surely have heard of it (for everything else, there’s Wikipedia).

And I, for my part, after seeing what can be done today with the restoration watching Nosferatu, Caligari and Metropolis in their versions by the Cineteca di Bologna, I asked myself if I really could miss Häxan. Obviously, not.

I support this project with the sum of € 40. Donations are possible until February 16.

Link to the project

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Finally, as always, the bodies of crime: