Pier Paolo Pasolini Retrospective

A filmmaker, writer, poet, theater director, essayist, painter and actor, Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975) was one of the most multifaceted, prolific, influential and radical artists and intellectuals of the 20th century. His films, novels and essays marked turning points and set standards in post-war Europe, provoking and polarizing, triggering scandal and controversy and social debate. His works have now entered film, or literary, history without ever being pigeonholed. Pasolini was and remains singular. His whole life, he refused to adhere to artistic, political or societal conventions; he was contradictory, uncompromising, pugnacious and incredibly productive. Between his groundbreaking debut ACCATTONE (1961) and his violent death at the end of 1975, shortly after finishing his last film SALÒ, he shot over 20 feature and documentary films of different forms and lengths in rapid succession. His films focus on the edges of society and the subproletariat, they re-visit the Greek myths and the Gospel according to St Matthew for example, explore themes such as sexuality and death, Catholicism and Marxism; his thought centers on philosophical, political or social questions. Cruelty and tenderness, monumentality and sparingness, documentary and mythological and different time layers, styles and influences all come together in his "Cinema of Poetry" in an impressive and unmistakable manner. The city of Rome also plays a decisive role in many of the films, as it did in Pasolini's life. An extensive exhibition at the Martin-Gropius-Bau called "Pasolini Roma" will explore this interdependency from 11.9 to the beginning of next year. It is in this context that we are presenting a full retrospective of Pasolini's films at Arsenal.