Nomen est omen – when one pictures the massive cuts made to Marco Ferreri's grotesque and comical farce Break Up –L’uomo dei 5 palloni (I/F 1965) the title of this underestimated comedy acquires a new and extremely bitter connotation. When the medium-length BREAK UP was finished, the producer Carlo Ponti shortened the film from 82 to 35 minutes to turn it into an episode film. Neither Ferreri's original version nor the new version which emerged years later were released on Italy's screens. Half a century later, the Cineteca di Bologna decided to restore the film and make it accessible again. In cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin, we are screening this absurd comedy about a candy-maker (Marcello Mastroianni) obsessed with exploding balloons to coincide with a Mastroianni exhibition at the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin. (mg) (1965). (9.3.)
