Cesare Bedogne' Photography and Film-Making

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    Maria's Silence

    A film by CESARE BEDOGNE'



    "I have been
    a bush and a bird
    a boy and a girl
    a mute fish in the sea"

    (Empedocles, Purifications)


    This film is based on documentary material but is not, strictly speaking, a documentary film. Nor it is a work of fiction. The film rather appeared to us like a dream, not a nocturnal dream, but one which unfolded day by day while shooting. A dream shared between the photographer-director and the actress (or, better, the woman portrayed in the feature), which nevertheless seemed to follow its own, enigmatic necessity through which the daily shots joined almost magnetically, interweaving in a pattern of superimposed layers that unceasingly merge and dissolve one in another, in the constant flux, crystallization and reshaping of psychic interior. At a certain point, this dream seems to end but in fact it only opens up to another dream, or hallucination, where the film itself abruptly starts to burn, unleashing new and old visions - fragments of reality - until it is put out by a sudden storm and dissolves in a twilight of sea-waters. In this sense, the film is also a meditation on the elements, Water and Fire, Wind, Earth and Skin, inspired by a Sun-Eye that appeared almost by itself in one of the first shots and took possession of the narration, in the endless flow and unfathomable metamorphosis of all things and beings.


    Country: Italy, Greece

    Runtime: 38 mins

    Genre: Documentary / Experimental /Avant-Garde/ Visual Poetry

    TRAILER



    "DARKLY ONEIRIC, DEEPLY MYSTERIOUS, SUBLIMELY BEAUTIFUL AND UNCOMPROMISINGLY LYRICAL, MARIA'S SILENCE IS THE MOST MESMERIZING, TRASCENDENTALLY CINEMATIC FILM I HAVE SEEN THIS EVENING AT BERLIN REVOLUTION FILM FESTIVAL"

    (Nikola Gocic, from Experimental Film Society)



    AWARDS

    CONCRETE DREAM FILM FESTIVAL 2018, Los Angeles, BEST FILM (Philippe Mora Award for Avantgarde Cinema),

    AMIIIWORKFEST 2018, Vilnius, BEST FEATURE NARRATIVE

    TIMELESS AWARDS, Wroclaw. (Poland), Summer 2021 edition), BEST OF TIME AWARD "in recognition of timeless excellence in film-making"

    4th edition EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS, Amsterdam (2019), BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    NEW YORK CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    APHRODITE FILM FESTIVAL, New York, BEST DIRECTOR EXPERIMENTAL

    FICCSUR 2018, Valparaìso, Chile, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE

    SANTORINI FILM FESTIVAL, Greece, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE

    IL VARCO FILM FESTIVAL 2018, Pescara (Italy), HONORABLE MENTION FOR EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA

    VERTIGO FILM FESTIVAL, Milano, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR AWARD (2020)

    ROMA PRISMA FILM AWARDS, BEST EDITING (May 2018)

    14th season VIRGIN SPRING CINEFEST (Calcutta, India), (BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    POLLINO INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Italy - BEST OF FEST, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST EDITING, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

    DEEP FOCUS FILM FESTIVALl 2021, Brooklyn (New York), HONORABLE MENTION OF THE JURY

    PURE MAGIC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Amsterdam, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    ATHENS INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY ART FILM FESTIVAL, HONORABLE MENTION OF THE JURY

    MASTERS OF CINEMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Moscow 2021, HONORABLE MENTION

    TOKYO INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY FILM FESTIVAL, 2021, HONORABLE MENTION

    INDIE MOVIES SPARK FILM FESTIVAL, Utrecht 2021, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BEST LEAD ACTRESS (awarded to Maria Frepoli)

    SWEDISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Arvika 2021, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    ZAGREB INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Croatia 2022, HONOURABLE MENTION

    SIPONTUM ARTHOUSE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Italy 2022, FILM OF THE MONTH/BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

    LUIS BUNUEL MEMORIAL AWARDS, Calcutta 2022, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

    EUROPE FILM FESTIVAL, London/Amsterdam 2022, JURY SPECIAL AWARD-BEST EXPERIMENTAL SHORT

    SYNSAPALUM IFF, Amsterdam 2022, HONORABLE MENTION

    TOKYO INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY FILM FESTIVAL 2022 HONORABLE MENTION

    AMSTERDAM FREEDOM INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL, 2022, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    ART BLOCKS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Copenhagen 2022, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    FOTOFILM IFF, Istanbul 2022, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    TAGORE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Bolpur, India 2022, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    HUMAN SHADES FILM FESTIVAL, Milan 2022, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    CULT CRITIC MOVIE AWARDS, Calcutta, India 2022, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

    IMMAGINA Florence Film Festival, Italy 2022, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

    4th DREAM MACHINE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Los Angeles 2022, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM OF THE YEAR

    3rd SUN OF THE EAST AWARD, Bolpur, India 2023, HONORABLE ACHIEVER



    OFFICIAL SELECTIONS:

    69th MONTECATINI INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, 2018

    16th ONE SHOT INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (Yerevan, Armenian Centre for Contemporary Experimental Art, 2018)

    14th HARLEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, New York 2019

    5th CINEMISTICA FILM FESTIVAL, Granada 2018

    10th ATHENS INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL (upcoming, 9-15 December 2021)

    BILBAO EXPERIMENTAL FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL(Fundación BilbaoArte Fundazioa, 2018)

    ISTANBUL INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2018

    BERLIN REVOLUTION FILM FESTIVAL, 2018

    NEW VISION FILM FESTIVAL, Amsterdam 2019

    FOGGIA FILM FESTIVAL, Innovation Movies section, 2018

    NUOVO FESTIVAL DEL CINEMA DI ALGHERO, 2018

    BEIJING INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, China 2017

    NORWEGIAN INTERNATIONAL SEAGULL FILM FESTIVAL, 2018

    LONDON GREEK FILM FESTIVAL, 2018

    AVIFF CANNES ART FILM FESTIVAL 2019

    NEW WAVE MOTION FILM FESTIVAL,CHINA 2019

    RIBALTA FILM FESTIVAL, Italy 2022

    ROME OUTCAST INDEPENDENT FILM AWARD, 2022

    AMSTERDAM SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, 2022

    FESTIVAL DE CORTOMETRAJES DE EUROPA, Barcelona 2022

    BERLIN ART FILM FESTIVAL, 2022

    STANLEY FILM AWARDS, London, 2022

    31st MEDIAWAVE - ANOTHER CONNECTION FF, Kiscsos.z Hunagary 2022

    CAMBIO IFF, Istanbul 2022

    WEST SIDE MOUNTAINS DOC FEST, Greece 2022

    WSXA AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands 2022

    UNIVERSAL FILM FESTIVAL SAMOTHRAKI, GREECE

    6th EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL, Barcelona 2022

    FOTOFILM INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, ISTANBUL, 2022

    TATRA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Slovakia, 2022

    GOA IFF, India 2022

    ULTRACINEMA XI, Mexico 2022

    SERBEST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Kishinev, Republic of Moldova 2022

    SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL SHORT WEEK, 2022

    AMSTERDAM LIFT OFF FILM FESTIVAL, 2022

    16th FROZEN FILM FESTIVAL, SAN FRANCISCO 2022

    17h L'EUROPE AUTOUR DE L'EUROPE, PARIS 2022

    24th MADURAI INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, INDIA 2022

    ETERNAL FILM FESTIVAL; Firenze, Italy 2023

    GENEVE FILM AWARDS, Switzerland 2023

    EUROPEAN PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS, Bucharest, Romania 2023



    OTHER SCREENINGS

    ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF CULTURE, ATHENS (Film and Photography exhibition, 14 November / 8 December 2018)

    OGA Video art Exhibitions, Natura e Sogno, Roma 2018

    LA GALERIE PHILOSOPHIQUE, Grandson (Switzerland), Film and Photography exhibition 12 December 2021/12 February 2022




    CREDITS

    Directed by CESARE BEDOGNE’
    Storyline by CESARE BEDOGNE’
    With MARIA FREPOLI
    Photography and Editing by CESARE BEDOGNE’
    Shakuachi Flute played by Masayuki Koga and Carl Abbot
    Running time: 38 minutes
    Filmed on the island of Lesvos (Greece) in the period January-May 2017.
    Editing completed in September 2019


    An excerpt from Philippe Mora's speech in Hollywood, on occasion of the CONCRETE DREAM FILM FESTIVAL Awards Cerimony:


    “It was very difficult to judge and I took it seriously… What is "Avant-Garde,what IS Avant-Garde?"? There is a whole tradition about Avant-Garde in art and it starts with the Dada's, with Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp, and Avant-Garde means being ahead, ahead of everyone else, that’s what it is. It also means disruptive and it is very difficult for an artist to be disruptive because you cannot really sell your paintings (…). It is difficult to be an Avant-Garde artist in any form particularly because, as I said, if you are disruptive no one wants to see it. (...) In movies, it is even more difficult to be Avant-Garde because it involves more money. So, what is great now is that you can be an Avant-Garde artist with basically no money on digital stuff.
    (…) The winner is Maria’s Silence. I should say why, just briefly… The whole history of the Avant-Garde is in this film, including Japanese cinema, including Man Ray’s photography, including all sexual aspects of the Avant-Garde art, and it reminded me also of that great Japanese film “Woman from the Dunes”, by Teshigahara. What really got me is that it is visually beautiful, it is like a dream, it is surrealism but also there is a shot of what looked like twigs burning. Cesare Bedogné repeated this shot and only after I looked at the film for the second time I realized it wasn’t twigs burning, it was 16 mm film. And so, the film also comments on the sad demise of film, even though he shot this - I checked – on digital... It is a terrific film. It has got all the themes of the Avant-Garde in it in a very graceful way”.



    "Dreamlike, transcendent, transitional in tone and manner, contemplative, visually and aurally arresting, and truly cinematic in its grand scope, this 38-minute short from director/producer Cesare Bedogne, screened at the 2020 Berlin Revolution Film Festival, captures the pure essence of meditative, inward-focused awareness-seeking thematic explorations, doing so with an execution that dramatically draws the viewer into its web of elements both real and fantastical"

    (from a review by Kirk Fernwood, written on occasion of the Berlin Revolution Film Festival: please read the full review in the Biography&Texts page of this web-site).

    A review (in Italian) written on occasion of the Sipontum Arthouse International Film Festival:

    https://ordetv.blogspot.com/2022/05/focus-tra-sogno-e-poesia-il-cinema-di.html


    Here is a selection of digital stills from the film, printed in 53x28,5 cm size (A2) on archival baryta paper:
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