ITALIA

BELL’EPOKER

2004 – color – 110’

Direction: Nico Cirasola

Screenplay: Paola Cimmino, Nico Cirasola

Cinematography: Roberto de Franceschi

Editing: Maurizio Baglivo

Set design: Dionisia Cirasola, Daniele Trevisi

Music: Nino Lepore

Costumes: Anna Caradonna, Francesca Mesto

Cast: Nino Frassica (Capocomico), Tiziana Schiavarelli (Chanteuse), Susanna Capurso (Black Widow), Mariolina De Fano (Lady), Gianni Colajemma, Dino Abbrescia, Totò Onnis, Dante Marmone, Mino Barbarese, Pinuccio Sinisi, Gino Locaputo (Notables), Edoardo Winspeare (baron), Stefano Sabelli (theater manager), Raimondo Brandi (reporter), Luca Cirasola (reporter), Laura Marinelli (dancer), Maritt Nissen (dancer)

Producers: Lucia di Roma, Nico Cirasola

Production: Mediterranea Film

Distribution: Stella Film, Sharada

synopsis

Bari, 1991. In the darkness of an auditorium two strange people wander around. There’s gasoline, rope and a match. In minutes, what remains of Bari’s once prestigious icon, the Politeama Theater, are flames, ashes and destruction. One person resists the instinct to flee, lingering at the door, amid astonishment and sadness. In his mind are muddled images: the birth of a theater; costumes and dancers; Parisian-style shows; poker games among the local aristocracy; the fate of a city in the hands of barons and counts threatened by the new bourgeoisie. There are intrigue, passion, women and symbols. From the rules of the “game” remain silent secrets. Art and music, celebrities, dreams and power all fade, sadly lulled by the wind, along with the incinerated remains of Bari’s Belle Epoque.

critical note

“Huge merit goes to this independent director, completely absorbed in a cinematographic dream that soon after, due to fashion or snobbery, will be declared interesting. Cirasola portrays an absolutely cynical gaze, never detached from the story, which he views and interprets from his inward parts, well beyond his head.” (Giancarlo Visitilli, Barisera, 1/18/2006)

“A first-class filmmaker, he theorizes and creates a passionate film, which conceals a “low budget” with comparable photography and scenography that appears sumptuous, delivering a poignant indictment of the violence that ravages thought, ethics and aesthetics.” (A.F., TV Film)

festivals & awards

2004 Festival del Cinema Europeo

2004 Annecy Cinema Italien – Panorama

2004 Festival di Salerno: Premio Presidente della Repubblica President of the Italian Republic Award

2012 Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival, Charleston