The author Gabriele d'Annunzio spent seventeen years, until his death in 1938, designing the Vittoriale on Lake Garda and furnishing the Villa Cargnacco, which is part of the complex. On June 24, 2002, a cinematographic jam session took place in the villa, to which Heinz Emigholz invited Irene von Alberti, Elfi Mikesch and Klaus Wyborny. The film "D'Annunzio's Cave" resulted from the wealth of material thus produced. The film focuses on d'Annunzio's stagings of interior design. As a state artist, he made constant designing efforts to remodel his dwelling into a representative cult site. Interior decoration becomes an act of asserting Being. Sense becomes power, meaning becomes kitsch, dialogue a decree. D'Annunzio became the precursor of a "lifestyle" movement in which fetishes, cultural theft, and staged squirreling-away function as a substitute for thought.
The program is framed by two other films from Heinz Emigholz' long-term project "Photography and beyond". Miscellanea (III) shows scenes from the shooting of "Goff in the Desert", and The Basis of Make-Up (III) is a new installment in his film diary project, which he started in 1974.
Production: Pym Films
Screenplay: Heinz Emigholz
Format: DV, Color
Running time: 60 min.
