The Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI present
The Mattei Affair
When
Wed 15 Feb 2023
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and co-written by Tonino Guerra and Francesco Rosi, this mix of documentary and fiction reconstructs the life of oil executive Enrico Mattei (Gian Maria Volonté), one of the most powerful men in postwar Italy, while exploring the circumstances surrounding his mysterious death in a 1962 plane crash. Documentary footage of the director looking for the investigative journalist Mauro De Mauro, who went missing during filming, his body never found – itself one of the great mysteries of modern Italy – eerily echoes Mattei’s own unsolved case.
35mm print courtesy of Cinecittà Luce.
Also screening on Wed 15 February
Program
“The Art is Very Jealous”: Tonino Guerra, Writing Images
Amarcord (1973) – Wed 8 Feb, 7pm
Blow Up (1966) – Wed 8 Feb, 9.20pm
Nostalghia (1983) – Wed 15 Feb, 7pm
The Mattei Affair (1972) – Wed 15 Feb, 9.20pm
The Assassin (1961) – Wed 22 Feb, 7pm
The Beekeeper (1986) – Wed 22 Feb, 8.50pm
Program notes
Screenwriting professor Howard Rodman described Tonino Guerra’s work as “the brave and moral thread that runs through the fabric of modernist cinema” but Guerra’s preferred categorisation of his contribution was simply to claim he “added some structure”...
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About Melbourne Cinémathèque
Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.
Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven.
