For Benigni’s 70th anniversary, an exhibition at the Casa del Cinema in Rome

On 27 October the eternal child of Italian cinema Roberto Benigni will turn 70 and the Casa del Cinema in Rome, to pay homage to one of the most histrionic artists of our cultural landscape, will celebrate his talent and career by hosting from 12 October to November 13, the photographic exhibition 70volteRober70, a monographic retrospective with unpublished images taken over the years by the still photographer Mimmo Cattarinich. A set of snapshots of Benigni’s long cinematic life from the precious archive of the Mimmo Cattarinich Cultural Association, curator of the event, and soon destined to capture the attention of the public at the Casa del Cinema in Villa Borghese. The exhibition was born from an idea of ​​Maurizio Presutti, nephew of the photographer, and of the members of the Cultural Association established after the death of the artist by his son Armando Cattarinich, his wife Rosalba Presutti and his nephews Daniele Presutti and Maurizio himself. Thanks to their skilful and painstaking work of research, restoration and recovery, all the precious material bequeathed by the late photographer, who died in August 2017 in Rome, has been brought to light. 160 images will be selected among the hundreds that Cattarinich shot in Benigni on the sets and in many other subsequent opportunities in which the actor and director visited the Roman photographer in his studio in via Lazio in Rome, a few steps from the Casa del Cinema. There will be the blow-ups of photos taken in ’95 for the promotion of the Tuttobenigni tour, the portraits for the mugshot of Il Mostro, including the original poster, as well as one of the first photo shoots made in Benigni by Mimmo in 1993 for the magazine. Max, then replicated for the monthly Ciak and for many other magazines in the sector. In one room, the original scene photographs taken during the filming of La voce della Luna by Federico Fellini in 1990 and Il Mostro in 1994 will predominate, while an important space will be reserved for the new digital elaborations made by Armando Cattarinich, all visible through a screen. With the exception of an image printed on canvas, it will therefore be an immersive story articulated over a period of about 15 years and which, in addition to highlighting Cattarinich’s mastery in capturing still photographs, also gives us back his enormous talent as a portraitist all-round, based on the indissoluble link between technique and a rare sensitivity as a dynamic creator of immortal expressions and gestures. What comes out is a careful and lucid testimony of the clownish genius of the Tuscan master, a dutiful and grateful homage to the most dreamer, whimsical and overflowing Benigni, at the same time clown and marionette, sometimes dazed in front of the lens and other times pushed by the usual The celebrations will reach their climax on October 27th, on Benigni’s birthday, with a special screening, at 4 pm, of the film The tiger and the snow, kindly granted by Melampo Cinematografica, the production company founded by Benigni himself and Nicoletta Braschi. To date, The Tiger and the Snow is the last film directed by the Tuscan director and, at the same time, the last work scripted together with the master Vincenzo Cerami, before his death in 2013.The initiative is promoted by Roma Culture and are part of the Estate Romana 2022 program