Artist in person
Q&A with the artist follows
Microscope is very pleased to present an evening of rarely screened films by Italian experimental filmmaker Massimo Bacigalupo, on the occasion of one of his seldom visits to New York.
After first receiving attention at the age of 19 for his independent, medium-length film “Quasi una tangente (Almost a tangent)” (1966) — which like many of his early works was shot on standard 8mm — Bacigalupo soon became a central figure in the experimental film scene in Italy as both artist and critic/theoretician. As a student in Rome he was a founding member of the Cooperative del Cinema Indipendente in 1967 — which was modeled after the Film-makers’ Co-operative in New York — and wrote film criticism for magazines such as "Film Critica,” "Bianco & Nero," and Mekas’ "Film Culture.”
Bacigalupo’s filmmaking has been informed by American poetry and the lyrical and anti-commercial forms of the New American Cinema in New York. Shot on black & white 8mm film and often edited in camera, early ambitious films in terms of length and aesthetic, like “Quasi una Tangente” and “60 Metri per il 31 Marzo” (200 ft. for March 31st), nevertheless retain a sense of the personal. And, at the time they were made, they could be shared with friends in a living room via a small-sized 8mm projector. Located outside of the perceived epicenter of the film revolution in the US, through his oeuvre — which is infused with experimentation, everyday life, and friendship — Bacigalupo offers a unique contribution to the history of avant-garde and independent film.
The filmmaker has always had deep connections with the United States. His mother was born and raised in Elizabeth, PA, and between 1973 and 1975 he lived in New York, where he attended Columbia University and received his PhD in American Literature.
Bacigalupo will be in attendance and available for a Q&A following the screening.
Please note: Masks are required for entry to our events at this time.
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Massimo Bacigalupo (b. Rapallo, Italy, 1947) was a founding member of the Italian Filmmakers’ Cooperative in Rome, where he was a student. His early film "Quasi una tangente," won first prize in the Montecatini Film Festival, 1966. He translated Stan Brakhage’s Metaphors of Vision (1970) and organized showings of the NAC in Rapallo (1965), and was a friend of Jonas Mekas, Gregory Markopoulos, and Abbott Meader. Among his films pf the 1960s-1970s is the series Eryngium (The Last Summer, Migrations, Coda… 1969-70). He went on to receive a doctorate in English from Columbia. His film "Warming Up," largely shot in NYC, was premiered at Anthology in 1973. In 2006 the Torino Film Festival devoted a retrospective to his work, which has also been shown at the Centre Pompidou and elsewhere. An award-winning translator of poetry, he is professor emeritus of American literature in the University of Genoa. His most recent book is Ezra Pound, Italy and the Cantos (Clemson University Press, 2020). Massimo Bacigalupo lives and works in Rapallo.