After the lectures on the theme of the archive with Shubigi Rao, Simon Wachsmuth, Paulo Bruscky and Mariam Ghani, on November 15th at 11 am in room G.04 of NABA campus in Milan, the Visual Arts Department presents "A cinema without a camera”, the public lecture open to the public, revolving around the relationship between archive and documentary with filmmaker Jean-Gabriel Périot. The panel, introduced by Marco Scotini, NABA Visual Arts Department Head, and which will see Périot in dialogue with Cristina Piccino, journalist and film critic, will coincide with the Italian preview of his latest work "Retour à Reims (Fragments)", at the Filmmaker Festival on November 14th, that follows its critic success during the 74th edition of Cannes Film Festival (2021).
Jean-Gabriel Périot has been defined "an artisan of the archive" and for this reason, the meeting will develop around the themes of television found footage, political-social history, editing as a historiographical tool. In particular, the director will focus on his latest film "Retour à Reims (Fragments)", based on the book by Didier Eribon in which the French sociologist tells the story of his return to the family home following the death of his father. An opportunity to retrace the events that marked the developments and crises of the French working class from the 1950s onwards. The documentary made up of archival images, the result of Périot's endless research, assembles documentary fragments, interviews and fictional films to propose a portrait of the working class outside its caricature.
Jean-Gabriel Périot's short films, on the edge between documentary, experimental cinema and fiction, have received numerous awards at an international level. The first feature film “Une jeunesse Allemande” tells the story of the Baader-Meinhof group. "Lumières d'été", his debut in fiction, was presented at the San Sebastian festival in 2017. "Nos Défaites" (2019), through the experience of the students of a school on the outskirts of Paris, describes what remains of the relationship between young people and the great revolutionary movements.
The initiative is accompanied by the involvement of NABA Visual Arts Department as part of "What is the city but people?", a research project that investigates the interdependence relationship between the city and its inhabitants. Guest of Milano Urban Center, at Triennale Milano, it consists of a contemporary art exhibition to be held from the 10th of November to the 12th of December and a cycle of four talks, curated by Heidi Mancino and Sofia Baldi, NABA ex-student, taking place on November 23rd and 24th. Marco Scotini will take part in the conference "Caring cities: a look at gender studies and performative practices in the city" which will take place on November 23rd at 3 pm; on November 24th at 11 am the talk "Sustainable urban planning: responsible planning and greenwashing" will take place, involving NABA lecturers Franco la Cecla and Leonardo Caffo.
