Gualtiero Jacopetti (1919 - )
Related: Mondo Cane (1962) - Mondo movies - Italian cinema - director
Biography
Gualtiero Jacopetti (September 4, 1919 in Barga, Lucca, Toscana,Italy) is an Italian director of documentary films. He is also the originator of Mondo films, also called shockumentaries. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gualtiero_Jacopetti [Dec 2005]
Having embarking on a successful career as a print journalist (Jacopetti helped found the magazine L'Espresso) and working on newsreels, Jacopetti teamed up with anthropologist Franco Prosperi, news cameraman Antonio Climati and composer Riz Ortolani, a unit that remained constant for all of Jacopetti's feature film output.
The impact of his first feature film Mondo Cane (1962) came from a side-stepping of documentary neo-realist principles in favour of a hyper-realism dubbed "shockumentary" because of its brutal edits ("shock cuts", Jacopetti once remarked), rapid zooms, extreme close-ups, heightened post-production sound effects and sharp contrasts between mis-en-scene and musical score (the much recorded ballad More comes from the film). Jacopetti's narrations were resolutely satirical, amusing, sad and at all times contemptuously despairing of humanity's failings.
The impact on audiences not yet seduced by cheap air travel or the pleasures of globalising capitalism - who were unprepared for Technicolor National Geographic style montages of ''primitive" rites and "civilised" wrongs - was such that an avalanche of inferior copies followed. Soon the 'mondo film' - the sensational treatment of documentary footage - became a fixture of transgressive film art.
The international success of Mondo Cane resulted in several follow-ups and allowed Jacopetti the freedom to embark on a more ambitious project Africa Addio (1966). This portrait of a continent writhing in the agony of decolonisation was so frank that accusations of racism and complicity were levelled at Jacopetti and his team. An infamous court case in Italy damaged Jacopetti's reputation but he emerged with Zio Tom (1971) determined to expose the violent perversions of the American slave trade in his trademark unblinking style.
After completing the more satirical Mondo Candido (1975) Jacopetti retired from filmmaking to continue as journalist and writer leaving a memorable and unique film legacy. We are delighted to welcome him to BFF2003.
Gualtiero Jacopetti
Born: 4 September 1919, Tuscany, Italy
Films as director
1962 Mondo
Cane
1963 La Donna nel Mondo (aka Women of the World)
1964 Mondo Cane 2
1966 Africa Addio
1971 Zio Tom (aka Farewell Uncle Tom)
1975 Mondo Candido
--http://www.bradfordfilmfestival.org.uk/2003/strand_jacopetti_p2.asp [Dec 2005]
Addio zio Tom (1971) - Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi
Addio zio Tom (1971) - Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi
Image sourced here. [Dec 2005]
Capitan Trash Zio Tom Google gallery
See also: "mondo" film - Africa - documentary film - Italy - Gualtiero Jacopetti - 1971
Africa Addio (1966) - Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi
Africa Addio (1966) - Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi
Image sourced here. [Dec 2005]
See also: "mondo" film - Africa - documentary film - Italy - Gualtiero Jacopetti - 1966
your Amazon recommendations