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HOMMAGE PASOLINI: SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM. MEETING WITH TILDA SWINTON AND OLIVIER SAILLARD
Dates
22.06 / Sunday, 14:00
Dates
22.06 / Sunday, 14:00
Venue
Duration
117 min.
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Language
Film presented in original soundtrack with Polish and English subtitles
Film retrospective at the Kino Pałacowe, June 16-22, 2025
The 2nd of November 2025 will mark 50 years since the tragic death of Pier Paolo Pasolini, the Italian filmmaker considered one of the most important „director-poets” in the history of cinema. Together with the Malta Festival, we invite you to a unique retrospective of five of Pasolini’s most important films presented in digitally restored versions. They are arranged in an artistic quintet which demonstrates the full range of talent and interests of the controversial director, poet, essayist, screenwriter and actor.
This is Pasolini fascinated by religion, Marxism and the possibility of revolution (The Gospel According to St. Matthew, 1964); Pasolini adapting world literature to tell a story of human vitality, sexuality and the desire for pleasure (Trilogy of Life, 1971-1974); and Pasolini as the creator of perhaps the most uncompromising and iconoclastic analysis of fascism and enslavement (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, 1975).
From his black-and-white, ascetic retelling of the life of Jesus (enriched with music by Bach, Prokofiev and American blues) to his radical vision of hell on earth in Salò, HOMMAGE: PASOLINI emphasizes the extremes that make Pasolini so enduringly fascinating and intriguing for generations of viewers. At the heart of the retrospective is the Trilogy of Life, consisting of The Decameron (1971), The Canterbury Tales (1972) and Arabian Nights (1974). Very rarely shown on Polish screens, these films are steeped in medieval literature and constitute a colorful, ludic and sensual celebration of human carnality and the need for love, with music by Ennio Morricone and production design by Dante Ferretti (The Age of Innocence, Casino, Gangs of New York).
Pasolini’s films are intriguing classics for today’s troubled times: bursting with energy, they inspire and surprise, and also shock with their directness and aesthetic daring.
The retospective’s special guests will be the highly acclaimed Oscar-winning British actress Tilda Swinton, and Olivier Saillard, one of fashion’s premier historians and curators, who will come to Poznan with their original performance EMBODYING PASOLINI. HOMMAGE: PASOLINI will thus become an extension of the context presented by the artists in the performance, and the kind of tribute that Pier Paolo Pasolini deserves.
Curators: Piotr Szczyszyk, Sebastian Smoliński
Salò, or the 120 days of Sodom, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975, 117′
Notoriously controversial, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s last film premiered exactly twenty-one days after his tragic death on a beach in Ostia. A loose adaptation of The 120 Days of Sodom, or The School of Libertinage by Marquis de Sade, the film is divided into four parts and follows the structure of Dante’s Divine Comedy, while also incorporating motifs from the works of Nietzsche and Proust. It’s the most complete manifesto – and a blasphemous work – by the radicalized artist, through which he definitively severs ties with his own past and „walks away” from the Trilogy of Life.
Fascist Italy, 1944. Salò, a northern town and the last haven and capital of the puppet state known as the Italian Social Republic (the Republic of Salò), which Mussolini established after the fall of his regime. The Duke, President, Bishop and Judge abduct local civilians/residents to stage an orgy in the remote Villa Sorra, subjecting them to numerous acts of torture and humiliation. Pasolini abandons all formalities, rejects history and entirely disregards the future. Some claim that, with this work, the director foretold his own death. The film presents extreme scenes of sadism and murder, a naturalistic portrayal of violence and sexual deviance. Never have critiques of fascism and of other totalitarianisms been so brutal, yet so vital for Pasolini to escape his own demons. After a few screenings, Salò was banned in Italy and several other countries. [Piotr Szczyszyk]
PROGRAM OF THE RETROSPECTIVE:
16.06, 8 PM: The Gospel According to St. Matthew, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, France, Italy 1964, 137′ | introduction: Piotr Szczyszyk | Cinema Hall 1
17.06, 8 PM: The Decameron, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy, France, RFN 1971, 111′ | introduction: Piotr Szczyszyk | Cinema Hall 1
20.06, 6:30 PM: The Canterbury Tales, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, France, Italy 1972, 111′ | introduction: Sebastian Smolinski | Cinema Hall 1
21.06, 6 PM: Arabian Nights, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, France, Italy 1974, 130′ | introduction: Sebastian Smolinski | Cinema Hall 1
22.06, 4 PM: Meeting with Tilda Swinton Olivier Saillard moderated by Sebastian Smoliński + screening of the film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, France, Italy 1975, 117′ | The Grand Hall
All films presented in original soundtrack with Polish and English subtitles.
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