MoMA Announces Pier Paolo Pasolini Retrospective

The Museum of Modern Art, Luce Cinecittà, and Fondo Pier Paolo Pasolini/Cineteca di Bologna present Pier Paolo Pasolini, a full retrospective celebrating the filmmaker's cinematic output, from December 13, 2012 through January 5, 2013, in The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters.

Pasolini's film legacy is distinguished by an unerring eye for cinematic composition and tone, and a stylistic ease within a variety of genres—many of which he reworked to his own purposes, and all of which he invested with his distinctive touch. Yet, it is Pasolini's unique genius for creating images that evoke the inner truths of his own brief life that truly distinguish his films. This comprehensive retrospective presents Pasolini's celebrated films with newly struck prints by Luce Cinecittà after a careful work of two years, many shown in recently restored versions. The exhibition is organized by Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, and by Camilla Cormanni and Paola Ruggiero, Luce Cinecittà; with Roberto Chiesi, Fondo Pier Paolo Pasolini/Cineteca di Bologna; and Graziella Chiarcossi.

Pasolini's (b. Bologna, 1922-1975) cinematic works roughly correspond to four periods in the socially and politically committed artist's life. 'The National Popular Cinema' commenced with his debut, Accattone (1961), which immediately made a name for him as a filmmaker of prodigious talent. This was followed by Mamma Roma (1962) and a number of episodic comic films—including Hawks and Sparrows (1966); The Earth as Seen from the Moon (1966)—containing warm, honest portraits of people living on the fringes of society, and culminated in the masterful The Gospel According to Matthew (1964). Marking him as a provocative thinker and audacious artist with an uncompromising vision, Pasolini's middle period is frequently termed 'The Unpopular Cinema', in which his excoriating depictions of the bourgeoisie lent passionate immediacy to films like Teorema (1968), Porcile (1969), and a modern interpretation of Medea (1969).