Happy Birthday, Paolo Cavara! Born today in 1926, this Italian screenwriter and film director is best known for collaborating with two other Italian directors.
These were Italian documentary film director Gualtiero Jacopetti and Italian film director and screenwriter Franco E. Prosperi.
Of the 1960s, Cavara was known for directing two features. These were the 1962 Italian Technicolor documentary/mondo film 'Mondo Cane' ('A Dog's Life') and the 1967 Italian ColorScope drama/adventure fiction film 'L'occhio selvaggio' ('The Wild Eye'),
Of the 1970s, Cavara directed two giallo films. These were the 1971 Italian/French horror/mystery film 'La tarantola dal ventre nero' ('Black Belly of the Tarantula') and the 1976 Italian thriller/mystery film 'E tanta paura' ('Plot of Fear').
Of these films, Cavara is best known for co-writing and co-directing 'Mondo Cane' along with Jacopetti and Prosperi.
The film's title is a mild Italian profanity; also known in the United States as 'Tales of the Bizarre: Rites, Rituals and Superstitions'.
In making the documentary, Cavara traveled to every part of the world, from Africa to Asia, Europe to Japan, continually putting his life in danger.
A documentary that shocked many viewers at the time of its release, this film presents scenes from across the globe that feature strange rituals.
These included animal slaughter and bizarre religious ceremonies are among the many events in the movie, which also exhibits cuisine that is highly unconventional to the Western palate.
The collage-like production covers a lot of ground, both literally and figuratively, in depicting unusual cultural practices from around the world.
'Mondo Cane' consists of a series of travelogue scenes that provide glimpses into cultural practices around the world with the intention to shock or surprise Western film audiences.
Narrated by Italian actor and voice actor Stefano Sibaldi, these scenes are presented with little continuity, as they are intended as a kaleidoscopic display of shocking content rather than presenting a structured argument.
'Mondo Cane' was an international box-office success, earning $2 million through United States and Canadian rentals.
It later inspired an entire genre of mondo films in the form of exploitation documentaries, many of which also include the word "mondo" (meaning “world”) in their title.
A mondo film is an exploitation documentary film, sometimes resembling a pseudo-documentary and usually depicting sensational topics, scenes, or situations.
Common traits of this film genre include portrayals of foreign cultures (which have drawn accusations of ethnocentrism or racism), an emphasis on taboo subjects (such as death and sex), and staged sequences presented as genuine documentary footage.
Over time, the films placed increasing emphasis on footage of the dead and dying (both real and fake).
In March 1961, after filming scenes of ‘Mondo Cane’ in Las Vegas, Nevada, Cavara and Jacopetti, along with his paramour, English actress Belinda Lee (who was not in the picture), traveled by car from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, California for more filming.
Near San Bernardino, California, on US 91, their Italian driver, who was driving too fast, lost control on a winding road after blowing a tire.
The car flipped, killing Lee immediately when she was thrown from the vehicle and fractured her skull and broke her neck. All the others escaped with minor injuries.
'Mondo Cane' had been produced through the Italian media company Cineriz. They were involved primarily in the production and distribution of films, founded in the early 1950s by Italian publisher and film producer Angelo Rizzoli.
Other notable films released through Cineriz included Alain Resnais' ('Night and Fog', 'Hiroshima, Mon Amour') 1961 Italian-French Left Bank black and white drama/mystery film 'Last Year in Marienbad'.
This also included Federico Fellini's 1963 Italian black and white surrealist comedy-drama/fantasy film '8½'.
Upon the film's completion, 'Mondo Cane' was later presented at the 15th Cannes Film Festival in May 1962.
However, it lost to Brazilian actor, screenwriter and film director Anselmo Duarte's 1962 Brazilian black and white drama film 'O Pagador de Promessas' ('Keeper of Promises' or 'The Given Word').
'Mondo Cane' later launched Cavara as an author and director. From then on, he continued to make films, nevertheless that experience left a sign for future projects.
Following the success of the film, Jacopetti attempted to claim all of the merits for himself, but left himself open to fierce media criticism.
Although involved in the editing of the film, Cavara had had little presence on set during actual filming.
The following year, Jacopetti and Prosperi directed the 1963 Italian Technicolor documentary/horror film 'Mondo Cane 2'. It was narrated by Peter Ustinov. However, Cavara had nothing to do with the second installment.
The official sequel to the original shockumentary, the film presented new and bizarre behavior from around the world, including cruelty, graphic gore, and strange rituals.
One year later, 'Mondo Cane' was nominated for Best Music, Original Score (Riziero "Riz" Ortolani (music), Nino Oliviero (music) and Norman Neill (lyrics for the song "More". This occurred at the 36th Academy Awards on mid-April 1964.
Cavara passed in Rome, Lazio, Italy on August 7, 1982. He was 56.
Not identified as a conventional director, Cavara focused attention, over his not very long professional career, on controversial subjects and film characters, his trademark being the skillful interplay between and sensibility for visual contrasts.
Cavara had been active from 1958–1981.
#borntodirect
#Cineriz
@mubi
@tubi
@letterboxd
@Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment