Art, social class, and revolution in the Italian Left

Join us for an experimental short-film screening of Della Volontà by our student Samine Joudat and a discussion about the relationship between aesthetic production and politics from an emancipatory perspective, facilitated by Mariagrazia De Luca, scholar and lecturer at UC Berkeley.

“In the formation of leaders, one premise is fundamental: is it the intention that there should always be rulers and ruled, or is the objective to create the conditions in which this division is no longer necessary?” — Antonio Gramsci The Pr*son Notebooks

Film synopsis: An experimental short film that meditates on the nature of intelligence at war with the will and the capacity of the miraculous to transcend the limits of the material status quo. Relevant questions that Della Volontà hopes to raise are the following. What is the through-line between intelligence, the will, and art? What is the danger of “hope”? What is the relationship between aesthetic beauty and politics today?

The film abstractly chronicles the legacy of the Italian left, portrayed through the voices and images of historic figures: Antonio Gramsci, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Antonio Negri–culminating with a contemporary dockworkers strike that began in Genoa.

Original images are shot in rural Sardinia, including the hometown of Gramsci–Ghilarza–and at the Casa Museo Antonio Gramsci archives. Additional original images are shot in Milan and Rome. Archival audio and footage are inter-spliced to form an abstract, non-linear docu-collage. Original score is by sound artist Adnan Naqvi.

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