Bringing to light the pioneering vision of Fernanda Wittgens, the first woman in Italy to become a museum director, Francesco Clerici and Mattia Colombo’s Anatomy of a Portrait is set to premiere at Giornate degli Autori at the Venice Film Festival. Ahead of the premiere, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer for the film starring Sara Drago and Giovanna Ginex.
Here’s the synopsis: “Fernanda Wittgens joined the Brera Museum in 1928, and after a few years she was its director. Courageous and visionary, during the war she saved artworks from the bombings, aided political opponents of Fascism and Jewish families in fleeing the regime, and was imprisoned for her actions. After Italy’s liberation, she rebuilt the Brera and championed its being open and accessible to one and all. Yet despite her groundbreaking policies, she was forgotten after her death. This film seizes on that absence. Calling on the actress Sara Drago, who lends her face and voice to Wittgens in her letters, and the art historian Giovanna Ginex, the filmmakers create a collaborative space in which the past, the present, and their interpretations are intertwined. Fernanda, albeit invisible, is a living presence.”
“When the producer Marco Malfi first spoke to us about Fernanda Wittgens, we were fascinated. At this time in history, with nationalism resurfacing and the patriarchy still in place, her story seemed extraordinarily relevant,” said the directors. “In addition, it offered the intriguing challenge of building a film around what is missing, given the near total absence of any pictures of her. How to do it, starting from almost nothing? And as men, how to approach her experience with the appropriate gaze? For these reasons, we got the actress Sara Drago and the art historian Giovanna Ginex involved and spent a week together in the studio, trying to recreate Wittgens’ voice and produce a portrait at once accurate and intimate. On Wittgens’ trail, as it were, the project turned into an appraisal of the biopic itself, with the central role of the archive material and historical reconstruction gradually fading into the present, making room for a direct confrontation with the issues of our own day.” (Francesco Clerici, Mattia Colombo)
See the trailer below.
The post Exclusive Trailer for Venice Premiere Anatomy of a Portrait Captures a Courageous Visionary first appeared on The Film Stage.
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