Napoli

Fantastic horned creatures in flight, skeletons waving at passers-by, symbols to protect you from the evil eye... Cyop & Kaf’s graffiti is unforgettable. Take a walk through the streets of Naples and you’re bound to come across their work: they’re everywhere! From the historical center to the suburbs, their prolific drawings wait for you in the most unexpected corners of the city. And when you happen upon one of their characters, it’s like bumping into a friend. For the first time in Belgium, Cyop & Kaf invites you into their world, with new work being created "live" directly on the walls of Nova’s bar and hallway during the exhibit’s opening. As a bonus, we’re organizing a slideshow with photos of their graffiti in their natural environment, with commentary by their friends from the magazine "Napoli Monitor".

Napoli Monitor is an independently-published monthly "urban" journal that includes articles, studies, investigations, and illustrations of Naples as well as other cities in the world. The magazine can be purchased at thirty different locations in Naples and is principally financed through sales and subscriptions. Luca Rossomando is one of its editorial founders and has published several books, including "Vedi Napoli, ritratti di città con bambini" ("See Naples, portraits of the city with its children"), an investigation of three cities (Naples, Marseille, Barcelona) where he confronts different models of urban development and gentrification. He’ll provide commentary for the slideshow and also present the "Napoli Monitor". He’ll also join us for the Microboutiek on Friday the 17th.

http://napolimonitor.wordpress.com/

Breeders watch as their animals die, farmers cultivate increasingly polluted soil, more than 1200 illegal dumps spoil landscape... how is this possible in Italy today? The three co-directors of "Biutiful Cauntri" attempt to answer this question, long before international media covered the massive piles of trash in the streets of Naples last summer. The film takes a darkly humorous yet human look at the ecological, moral and economic consequences of illegal dumping practices in Campanie.

"Hands Over the City" is a fast-paced metaphor for the political deterioration of a city in the midst of economic expansion. The honorable Signor Nottola (Rod Steiger) is a realtor and municipal magistrate that embodies the political class’ cynical refusal to acknowledge the realities of the city. His property speculation leads to environmental disasters and an anarchic edifice that defies the laws of geology, architecture and urban space. Rosi is convinced that cinema can be a political act capable of uncovering hidden agendas and complicities between political and economic power, and the corruption and illegal interests necessary to keep power unchecked. 10 years after the shoot, he bitterly states: "When looking at these houses built one on top of the other, it looks like a graveyard, not a city. What is a city? Houses and streets. Leisure, factories, artisans, workers, and the activities of daily life. When I look at this graveyard, I get the impression that, to the contrary, these are the homes and activities of the dead." Awarded the Golden Lion in Venice, 1963.

And now for the icing on the cake: a prolongation of the Italian "giallo" program from the recent Offscreen festival. "Napoli Violenta", one of the quintessential Umberto Lenzi films. Detective Betti has an unorthodox way of doing things, and is on assignment in Naples. He arrives in the city at a chaotic moment: A camorrist named "O general" has stirred things up by trying to climb the camorra ladder. Betti refuses to lower his arms... "Napoli violenta" is a film that comes from the peak of Italian "poliziesco" films and was created during one of Italy’s most violent decades. Lenzi perfected the "polar" genre: fast cuts, a specific art to editing, savory supporting roles, stunning locations in Naples... This is one of the best "polizieschi" of the era, and can only be seen on the big screen at Nova!

"Napoli Piazza Municipio" is a long journey that spans only a few hundred square meters: the "Town Hall Square" of Naples. As indicated by its name, this square is one of the political centers and most symbolic sites of the city. "Yet this immense space, created by the fascist regime and including a port, has never been the kind of social center that Italian plazas usually represent. It’s more of a trampoline for sending Italians to America" (Bruno Oliviero). Several other emblematic buildings are situated near Piazza Municipio: the town hall, a 12th century castle, the municipal theatre, the flower market... The citizens of Naples, the tourists and newly-arrived immigrants come to wander through these sites, and are obligated to cross the square to get there. Oliviero uses his encounters at the square to create a filmic mosaic composed of small stories, sounds and visual details, a kind of archeological dig site. The result is an x-ray view of the complexity of Neopolitan life. (Award for best Italian documentary at the Torino Film Festival, 2008)

Naples is lottery city. Everyone, especially the working class, is trying to shake hands with Lady Luck. When playing the lottery, Neopolitans use an ancient tradition and refer to a book called "La smorfia", the Kabbalah of the lotto (literally inspired by the Kabbalah). Written like a dictionary, the book contains lists of numbers that correspond to every kind of situation, gesture, object or image. The people of Naples use it to interpret the different events in their lives. In fact, an entire street in the heart of the city, Spaccanapoli, is full of stores (that resemble small offices) dedicated to... you guessed it: the lottery! Going back and forth from behind and in front of the counter, the director observes these mysterious transactions where the individual lotto players’ stories are interpreted and transformed by store employees, with the help of "La Smorfia", into lottery tickets. This fascinating portrait of the citizens of Naples was made in black and white, reminiscent of Italian neo-realism.

Malgré la crise qui sévit dans la presse, l’édition de journaux papiers reste importante en Italie. Et à Naples, plus qu’ailleurs, les journaux locaux et régionaux sont encore primordiaux dans la circulation d’infos locales. Dans "Cronisti di strada" ("Chroniqueurs de rue"), on suit le parcours de deux jeunes journalistes qui écrivent pour deux quotidiens de Naples. Ils écrivent pour les rubriques de "faits divers", mais il faut savoir qu’à Naples les faits divers ont très souvent des répercussions qui vont au-delà du "local". Gianfranco Pannone (un des "incontournables" du documentaire italien actuel) et Paolo Santoni (dont nous avions programmé "Cuore napoletano") ont réalisé ce documentaire en trois parties pour Rai 3. S’il est vrai que ce documentaire est formaté pour être un reportage "télé", il n’empêche qu’il est probablement un des premiers documentaires à questionner comment, à Naples l’information, souvent médiatisée, se confronte au vécu des gens. Le documentaire pose aussi la question du comment faire du journalisme là où il est difficile d’avoir accès aux infos. C’est une première à l’étranger, à ne pas manquer! En présence de Gianfranco Pannone.

1re partie: "Pas d’argent si pas de revolver..."
2ème partie: "La guerre des Rolex"
3ème partie: "Toutes les rues mènent à Naples"

Few of you have probably ever heard of Antonello Branca. Yet he’s one of the most important Italian documentary filmmakers of the 60s and 70s. His filmography includes engaging pieces and several surprises, like "Cartonline da Napoli", a documentary he created for Rai (Italian public television station). Dedicated to the "evil" that plagues Naples, Branca shoots this documentary just after the cholera epidemic of 1973 and the 1980 earthquake. He denounces the unacceptable working conditions, intolerable poverty, the increasing influence of the "camorra"... but also the degree of civic consciousness and the exemplary political class that can be "contagious" in Naples. Shot in stark black and white, this documentary shook up the Christian Democrats, the party in power at the time. We couldn’t miss an opportunity to screen it for you. The film has never been distributed outside of Italy.

Le quartier de Scampia dans la banlieue de Naples est sous les feux de la rampe. "L’intifada" napolitaine y a éclaté en 2004 et le livre "Gomorra" de R. Saviano en a dénoncé la situation ainsi que le film homonyme. Pourtant, Scampia mérite qu’on s’y intéresse autrement. Dans les années ’60, l’architecte Franz di Salvo y conçoit un projet ambitieux et utopiste: des logements sociaux appelés "le Vele" ("les voiles"). Au fil du temps, ces bâtiments se sont révélés dignes d’un décor de "Blade Runner" et sont devenus l’un des plus grands supermarchés de la drogue qui soit. Spéculation immobilière à gogo, pauvreté, analphabétisme: oui, nous sommes en Italie, en 2009, dans un des quartiers les plus peuplés de Naples... En 2004, Désirée Klain y crée un festival-laboratoire qui mélange cinéma, littérature, théâtre, photo et débats. Le pari est double: faire connaître des projets culturels issus des périphéries urbaines européennes et réunir des expériences artistiques de celle de Naples. Fameux courage que de mettre sur pied un tel événement dans un quartier oublié de tous! Désirée Klain, notre complice dans l’élaboration de cette programmation, sera au Nova pour présenter des courts métrages documentaires, ainsi qu’un long, présentés aux dernières éditions du festival "Périphéries du monde" qu’elle coordonne. Suivra une rencontre à laquelle participeront d’autres invités. Un rendez-vous à ne pas rater: l’énergie de Désirée est contagieuse.

http://www.periferiedelmondo.it/

Felice Pignataro fut, selon l’historien de l’art E. H. Gombrich, un des plus prolifiques peintres de fresques murales au monde. Il en réalisa plus de 200, dans la périphérie napolitaine mais aussi un peu partout en Italie. Dans ce documentaire, Pignataro nous livre avec beaucoup d’humour l’histoire et la vie difficile à Scampia, quartier auquel il était sentimentalement très attaché. Le film retrace aussi l’histoire du GRIDAS, le laboratoire culturel qu’il créa en 1981 avec d’autres habitants de Scampia, référence incontestable pour tous ceux qui à Naples oeuvrent pour une banlieue à dimension humaine.

http://www.felicepignataro.org

La définition d’une "banlieue" est souvent en opposition à celle du territoire urbain principal, "historique", le "centre ville". Aujourd’hui pourtant, les frontières entre "centre" et "périphérie" sont de plus en plus floues et la force centrifuge qui s’exerce à partir d’un "centre" de moins en moins certaine. Les banlieues contribuent à la redéfinition des espaces urbains et peuvent être à l’origine d’expériences artistiques ou culturelles passionnantes. Qu’en est-il à Naples? Pourquoi Scampia y est-il possible? Comment le cinéma peut-il raconter, dénoncer, participer aux mouvements qui agitent et redessinent les villes? Voilà les thèmes majeurs de cette rencontre consacrée aux spécificités de la ville parthénopéenne.
Les participants: Désirée Klain (journaliste, réalisatrice, coordinatrice du festival "Periferie del Mondo"), Paride Caputi (professeur d’urbanisme à l’Université de Naples, ex-échevin pour les questions liées à la banlieue), Gianfranco Pannone (réalisateur, professeur de cinéma). (Gratuit)

There are two sides to Naples: A city of pizza, mandolins, sunshine, blue waters and a lust for life on the one hand. Crime, violence, delinquency, drugs and "camorra" on the other. Could there be another "side" to the city? This is what the film’s protagonist, a Neopolitan journalist (the alter ego of the director), sets out to discover. After a long absence, he returns to Naples to document the "other", different side of the city. During his stay, the city happily welcomes the America’s Cup boat race, which provides a significant increase in tourism. At the same time, a new "camorra" war breaks out... Inspired by Michael Moore’s provocative approach, but full of a Neopolitan brand of caustic humor, journalist and satirist Enrico Caria shares his thoughts on his hometown. The film is enriched by commentary from politicians, sociologists, school teachers and even Roberto Saviano, the now famous author of "Gomorra".

The four members of Palkoscenico founded their musical lab and residence in the outskirts of Naples. This wild territory is the source of inspiration for their music and lyrics, which has evolved since the band was formed in 1999 into a hybrid of dub, rock, neopolitan folk and electronic music. They also experiment with Mediterranean folk music traditions to create contemporary sounds. The members of the band are involved in a stream of collaborative projects with other musicians and bands like Zion Train, 24 Grana, Bungt & Bangt, Daniele Sepe... You get the idea. It’s destined to be a mixed evening, powered by solar energy!