A real country of cinema. There is no fear of making a mistake in defining Italy in the decade that begins in 1960, when Federico Fellini wins the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival with Dolce vita and Michelangelo Antonioni the Jury Prize with The adventure. The cinematographic production of those years constitutes a complex whole of great interest, which not only reflects the society of the time in its images, but sometimes helps to anticipate changes, modifying mentality, morals and collective memory.
Photographed films are on display, many of which have left an indelible mark on the history of our cinema, such as Overtaking by Dino Risi, The girl from Bube by Luigi Comencini, La noia by Damiano Damiani, The eclipse by Michelangelo Antonioni, Mom Rome by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Films that show a different plot from the one shown in cinemas, made up of clapperboards, moments of rest, make-up artists at work, relatives of the protagonists, curious spectators. These are moments that the director has eliminated or reduced to brief scenes and that the photographer has instead replicated by taking dozens of photographs.
The inspiration offered by the extraordinary photographs of Rodrigo Pais has made it possible to outline a path in Italian cinema in a period of growth of society and the film industry, which at the same time offers many other reasons for reflection. Along with the films, it also showcases the news stories that inspired them such as Sorry, are you for or against?, Thursday e Italian menageon the subject of divorce, The hitman e A… as a murderer on the famous Ghiani – Fenaroli criminal trial which fascinated the public opinion of the time, The boom on the great theme of the economic miracle between the 50s and 60s.
The artistic completeness of the photographer Pais is demonstrated even better by other sections dedicated to Cinema and Literature, with testimonials on the “Premio Strega” and on the problems between film and censorship, and portraits of actresses, actors and directors. The exhibition is completed by a selection of posters, photo envelopes and original posters of the films presented. There is also a section entirely dedicated to Virna Lisi.
Rodrigo Pais was born in Rome on 28 September 1930. He began at a very young age to do the most disparate jobs: sciuscià, hatter, barber's boy. In 1946 he began working as a printer in the Binazzi and Lombardini photographic laboratory. After years of apprenticeship, his passion for photography and politics led him in 1950 to become a photojournalist for the weekly Vie Nuove. From 1954 he began his collaboration as a leading photojournalist with L'Unità (for which he worked from June 1977 to February 1983) and Paese Sera. He also collaborated with other newspapers including Corriere della Sera, Corriere d'Information and La Stampa. With Giorgio Sartarelli he founded the Pais e Sartarelli agency which until 1972, the year of its dissolution, was one of the best known and most appreciated both in Italy and abroad. His professional activity as a photojournalist lasted more than fifty years and ended in 1998. He died in Rome on March 9, 2007. One of the best post-war photographers, he left us an archive of nearly 400.000 photographs including black and white prints and negatives and in color that he himself has cataloged according to the double chronological criterion and by subject.
Playing in the title with the name of the protagonist, the exhibition Country of Cinema – promoted by Roma Capitale, Department of Culture, Creativity, Artistic Promotion and Tourism - Capitolina Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, curated by Guido Gambetta and Salvatore Mirabella with museum services by Zètema Culture Project – documents this successful era of cinema very well with the images of the great photojournalist and photographer Rodrigo Pais (1930 – 2007)
