“Anatomy of a Portrait” (“Anatomia di un Ritratto”) will have its world premiere in the Venetian Nights program of Venice Days on Sept. 4.
Directed by Francesco Clerici (“Hand Gestures”) and Mattia Colombo (“Trees That Walk,” “I Wanna Sleep With You”), the documentary pieces together the story of Fernanda Wittgens, Italy’s first female museum director. Fernanda led the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan during WWII and through its period of reconstruction. A courageous anti-fascist activist during the Mussolini regime, she was sentenced by the Fascist Special Tribunal to 20 years in prison, but was released after the war ended.
Art historian Giovanna Ginex and actress Sara Drago on set. Courtesy of Francesco Clerici and Mattia Colombo.
Having very limited historical material about Fernanda at their disposal, the directors decided to bring together actress Sara Drago and art historian Giovanna Ginex into a recording studio in order to “bring to life” Fernanda’s voice based on her letters and Giovanna’s extensive research on Fernanda’s life for nearly 40 years.
“In a sense, ‘Anatomy of a Portrait’ is a ‘requiem for the biopic’: it is a film not about the impossibility of telling a life story “truthfully,” but about the meaning that life can hold today, and it is only natural that the archival footage and historical reconstruction – which initially seem essential – gradually dissolve into the present, transforming into a confrontation with contemporary realities and urgent issues,” Clerici and Colombo told Variety.
