Story for an Empty Theatre
“Story for an empty theatre”, an introduction by Venanzio del Mare
This film narrates an intense story of love, disease and death, inspired by the autobiographical novel “Beyond the Blue”, by the Italian photographer and writer Cesare Bedognè. The novel is at the basis of the theatrical performance of the same name which, together with the writer’s photographs, was the first material on which this film was created. In this work still photographs, classical music, theatrical choreographies and dance belonging to the Japanese Butoh’s tradition, lyrical prose, diary fragments and poems merge cinematographically, through the editing by the Russian director Aleksandr Balagura, with shots taken both in a deserted Sanatorium of the Italian Alps, the place of the writer’s past, and in the Greek island of Lesvos, the place of his present. As the book on which it is based, the film seems to wander freely in time, attempting to be more faithful to the intrinsically poetic and diachronic flow of memory rather than to the artificial linearity of conventional narration. The space of this film is thus the space of consciousness, a continuum which dilates, in one of the very last shots, into a dreamlike meditation on death, when the theatre’s stage slowly dissolves into the interior of the Sanatorium's ruined church, and the white female character weaving together in a pattern of Japanese theatre the various shots of the film, seems to leave behind her own body and leaves the scene. Before the crumbling altar only a drifting plastic bag remains, stirred by the wind.
This is a film constructed on words where images (both still and moving) do not play a merely descriptive role, but rather open a parallel poetical path. It is thus accomplished, through a polysemic correlation between word and image, what Belá Balázs believed to be one of the most intriguing possibilities of poetical expression pertaining to cinematic language.
Through this filmic journey we are also led to the inner depths of the photographic image, the very stuff cinema is made of. Gelatin silver pictures merge in this film with cinematic shots, abandoning their seemingly static form: they dissolve or slowly take shape, as if still under the action of a developer in the darkroom, gradually revealing different layers of reality. The same pictures return rhythmically, in the film, and as the story unfolds they produce always diverse suggestions and meaning, in the continuously changeable and renewed flow of memory. In quite a similar manner, the actress seems to react to both the words from the book and Bach’s music, wandering freely inside and outside the stage, in a silent dialogue with the impalpable beings that from time to time seem to inhabit her, on the Greek shores, in a deserted church or in the old Sanatorium’s haunting rooms - a landscape of Absence - emptiness submerged by a sense of waiting, that counterpoints and at the same time reverberates the everlasting voice of the sea.
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Aleksandr BalaguraDirectorTo our brothers and sisters, Ali di farfalla, Life span of an object in a frame, Lohli Kali Shuba, ....
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Cesare BedogneDirector
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Cesare BedogneWriter
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Studio IncantationsProducer
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ABao AQu PublishingProducer
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Maria FrepoliKey Cast
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Emanuele FerrariKey Cast
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Project Title (Original Language):Storia per un Teatro Vuoto
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Project Type:Documentary, Experimental
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Runtime:57 minutes
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Completion Date:May 14, 2015
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Production Budget:0 EUR
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Country of Origin:Italy
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Country of Filming:Greece, Italy
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Language:Italian
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Film Color:Black & White and Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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The Great Indian Film and Literature FestivalGurgaon
India
December 2, 2016
Indian Premiere
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM (ex-aequo) -
Calcutta International Cult Film FestivalCalcutta
India
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM (November 2016) -
Lanùs Film FestivalUniversity of Lanùs, Buenos Aires
Argentina
March 3, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Eastern NC Film FestivalWinterville
United States
April 29, 2017
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM -
FICCSUR Film FestivalValparaiso
Chile
April 22, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Coral Coast Film FestivalAlghero
Italy
April 26, 2017
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM -
London Greek Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
May 20, 2017
UK
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Gulf of Naples Independent Film Festival 2017Naples
Italy
May 19, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Maracay International Film FestivalMaracay
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
June 18, 2017
BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY -
MAYKOP IFFMAYKOP
Russian Federation
July 23, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Disappear Here Film FestivalBallyliffin, Donegal
Ireland
September 24, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Wirral International Film FestivalEastham, Merseyside
United Kingdom
November 23, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Imaginarium Independent Film FestivalLouisville, Kentucky
United States
October 7, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
6th Mumbai Short Film FestivalMumbai
India
December 10, 2017
BEST EDITING, CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE -
Ficmarc 2018 Carribean Sea IFFIsland of Margarita, Nueva Esparta
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
January 12, 2018
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
New Renaissance Film Festival AmsterdamAmsterdam
Netherlands
March 2, 2018
Dutch Premiere
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM -
Voce Spettacolo Film FestivalMatera
Italy
May 4, 2018
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
West Side Mountains Film FestivalEpirus
Greece
August 8, 2018
Greek Premiere
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Innuendo Film FestivalMilano
Italy
September 14, 2018
SPECIAL MENTION OF THE JURY -
New Wave Motion Film FestivalHong Kong
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Sezze Film FesivalSezze
Italy
June 26, 2021
FINALIST -
Alaska International Film Festival 2018Anchorage
United States
KODIAK AWARD -
Festival Internazionale del Cinema Documentario Marcellino de Baggis 2018Bari
Italy
SEMIFINALIST -
Mostra del Cinema di Taranto 2018Taranto
Italy
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
International New York Film Festival 2018New York
United States
SEMIFINALIST -
Madrid Art Film Festival 2017Madrid
Spain
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Festival International del Cine 2019Buenos Aires
Argentina
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
London International Motion Pictures Awards 2019London
United States
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
The Hague Global film Festival 2019The Hague
Netherlands
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Intimalente Film FestivalCaserta
Italy
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Blow Up Arthouse Film FestivalChicago
United States
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Chatrapati Shivaji IFF 2018Pune
India
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Canada's World International Film Festival 2017
NOMINATION BEST ITALIAN FILM -
MedFFSiracusa
Italy
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Southern Cone IFFValparaiso
Chile
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Stockholm Independent Film FestivalStockholm
Sweden
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Miami Independent Film FestivalMiami
United States
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
South Film and Arts Film FestivalRancagua
Chile
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Russian Film Festival 2018Moscow
Russian Federation
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Rieti&Sabina Film FestivalRieti
Italy
SEMIFINALIST -
Roma Cinema DOCRoma
Italy
BEST ITALIAN DOCUMENTARY -
Switzerland International Film Festival 2017Aubonne
Switzerland
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM -
New York Neorealism Film Awards 2021Roma
Italy
BEST PICTURE -
Swedish International Film FestivalArvika
Sweden
Swedish Premiere
FIMALIST -
Interdoc FestMoscow
Russian Federation
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
International Moving Film Festival
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Iranian Premiere
FINALIST -
Cinematic European Film FestivalCraiova
Romania
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Rome Outcast Iinternational Film AwardRoma
Italy
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Roma Prisma Film AwardsRoma
Italy
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Author Film FestivalBarcelona
Spain
FINALIST -
Lift-Off Filmaker SessionsLondon
United Kingdom
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
12th Mumbai Shorts IFFMumbai
India
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Underground Film FestivalMunich
Germany
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Germany International Film FestivalBerlin
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Inspirational Film FestivalZurich
Switzerland
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Tabriz Cinema AwardsTabriz
Iran, Islamic Republic of
BEST EXPERIMENTAL/BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY/BEST COSTUMES AND MAKE UP DESIGN -
Andromeda Film FestivalIstanbul
Turkey
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM -
5th Venus Community awardsIstanbul
Turkey
AWARD WINNER -
4th Close Film FestivalTabriz
Iran, Islamic Republic of
May 31, 2023
Best Experimental Film -
Sipontum Arthouse International Film FestivalManfredonia
Italy
Official Selection -
Greece International Film FestivalAthens
Greece
October 4, 2023
Official Selection -
9th CINEMISTICA Film FestivalGranada
Spain
November 24, 2023
OFFICIAL SELECTION -
Rome Film AwardsRoma
Italy
AWARD WINNER -
Greece Film Festival AwardsAthens
Greece
Honorable Mention
BIOGRAPHY - ALEKSANDR BALAGURA
Aleksandr Balagura was born on January 1, 1961(USSR).
1981-1987 graduated at Kiev State University, Department of History and Social Sciences.
After one-year work as a teacher of History and Social Sciences he became a director’s assistant at Ukrainian Documentary Film Studio, Kiev. Since 1989 he works as a film director of the Ukrainian Documentary Film Studio and director of some TV programs.
Since1998 - up to date lives in Italy with his family.
Lives in Genoa (Italy).
Independent filmmaker.
Filmography:
Author about 20 documentaries, participated at IFF in Kiev, Moscow, Paris, Torino, Lisboa, Tampere, Florence, Tagliacozzo, Marseille etc.
2016 – STORY FOR AN EMPTY THEATRE, 57 min., (a film by Aleksandr Balagura and Cesare Bedognè), Italy ( Best Experimental Film at the New Renaissance Film Festival Amsterdam 2018, Certificate of Merit at the Great Indian Film and Literature Festival 2016)-
2013 – LOLI KALI SHUBA, doc., 52 min. Odessa IFF, Cottbus IFF, Artdocfest - Moscow, Festival dei popoli 2013, Delhi IFF 2013…
2012 – OH-OH-OH, doc., 11 min.
2012 – LIFE SPAN OF THE OBJECT IN FRAME - 111 min. FIDMarseille - Mention de jury, DOCLisboa, Artdocfest – Moscow, Bratislava IFF, Docudays- Kiev, FICUNAM – Mexico, Pune IFF- India…
2010 – INTONAZIONE DEL CORRERE – 10 min.
2009 – TEXTURA LUCIS, doc., 20 min
2008 – WINGS OF A BUTTERFLY (a film about the unfinished film)- 64min. Jury prize for the best film in Panorama of Ukrainian cinema 2007-2008 -IFF Molodist-2008. Competition: Torino 2008 - Italy IFF, Cinema du reel 2009- Paris - France, FAMAFEST 2009 - Portugal, Filmer l’invisible - France, Le Fantoms du Reel - France…
2003 – PAUSA ITALIANA (a film about waiting of film), Tagliacozzo FF, experimental films program «Light Cone» - Paris…
1998-99 - creative TV program PHOTOGRAPHER
1996 –ANTOLOGION (ukrainian film)- Neubrandenburg IFF, experimental films program «Light Cone-2006» - Paris, Molodist- Kiev, Tagliacozzo FF...
1995 - MESSA ECLECTICA (small), doc. - 26min. Diploma – Stakhanov IFF...
1994 – FROM GREEN THINKS OF QNE FOX - 18 min.
1993 – MELODIA – doc., 30 min.
1992 – TREE TEMPLS ON PALM OF MY HAND, doc. - 30 min.
1991 – WIDOWSTREET – doc., 15 min. Festival dei Popoli -Florence 1991, Filmer a Tout Prix IFF - Bruxelle, Molodist IFF – Kiev…
1990 – TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS -Grand-prize for the Best Documentary - Festival dei Popoli - Florence 1990…
BIOGRAPHY - CESARE BEDOGNE
Cesare Bedogné is an Italian photographer, film-maker and writer. His first, autobiographical novel and his black and white photographs were at he basis of the film "Story for an empty theatre", which he co-directed with the Russian film-maker Aleksandr Balagura. He later directed the experimental/documentary short films "Maria's Silence", "The Last Step of an Acrobat", "Photographing New York". All these experimental films won numerous awards internationally and were screened in prestigious film festivals such as Art Visuals&Poetry in Vienna, the International Film Festival of Salerno, L'Europe autour de l'Europe Film Festival in Paris, Montecatini International Short Film Festival in Italy, the Cinemistica Film Festival in Spain, AMIIWorkFest in Vilnius and many others. He recently completed (June 2022) another experimental short entitled "Lost Images", which also won many awards internationally. Further information is available on the artist's website:
www.cesarebedogne.com