Mario Schifano

Directing

Mario Schifano

Born 1934-09-20 · Homs, Libya

One of the greatest Italian painters of the post-war era, who achieved international acclaim in the 1960s and 1970s as an exponent of another possible pop art, Schifano has left behind a boundless body of work. After a decisive trip to the United States in 1963, he began to make short 16mm films, nearly always "edited in the camera", including Round Trip 1964 and Anna Carini in agosto vista dalle farfalle 1967. He then made a trilogy of feature-length films – Satellite 1968, Umano non umano / Human, Inhuman 1969 and Trapianto, consunzione e morte di Franco Brocani 1969 – which are anomalous from the circles of experimental and art cinema in Rome, of which he was never a part. He therefore represents an original, eclectic, autonomous voice.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Carol + Bill poster
NR

William Berger and his wife Carol are the protagonists of this silent film, in which bodies come to the fore and the gaze becomes obsessive.

Carol + Bill

1967

Film poster
6.8

Before the three feature films, Mario Schifano directs the camera towards the people around him to create real film diaries. His friends, his time partner and the artists he frequented are portrayed in their everyday life or object of the mechanical gaze of the camera, a filter through which to look at the outside world.

Film

1967

Satellite poster
10.0

A young filmmaker advocates the creation of a new type of film, devoid of a traditional plot and composed of blocks of sequences that have no specific interdependence. Subsequently, the theoretical statement leads to practical demonstration: abstract images flow across the screen, accompanied, for the most part, by snippets of conversation on a wide variety of topics.

Satellite

1968

Umano Non Umano poster
6.2

Artists and poets meet in a dreamlike space between walks and performances.

Umano Non Umano

1969

Anna (Anna Carini Naturale) poster
NR

Anna Carini, Mario Schifano’s partner at the time, is the protagonist of the film. The young woman is observed, followed, questioned in close-up, in both indoor and outdoor settings, by the camera that partially strays into the scene and then briefly makes room for the author himself. —Tate Modern

Anna (Anna Carini Naturale)

1970

Ferreri poster
NR

16mm short by Mario Schifano.

Ferreri

1967

Souvenir poster
6.0

A man drifts around Rome's tourism spots.

Souvenir

1967

Souvenir poster
6.0

A man drifts around Rome's tourism spots.

Souvenir

1967

No artwork available
NR

A 1967 short film by Mario Schifano.

Anna Carini in agosto vista dalle farfalle

1967

Transplantation, Consumption and Death of Franco Brocani poster
8.0

Trapianto heralds the end of utopia, the death of that underground, but is also the best prologue in Necropolis, which is not by chance found alive. It 's a film that establishes the passage of rolling between two friends, and Brocani Schifano, shared the same passions, and from living the cinema as a challenge urgent and vital, suspended between dream and action.

Transplantation, Consumption and Death of Franco Brocani

1969

No artwork available
NR

A 1967 short film by Mario Schifano.

Serata

1967

Absolut '94 poster
NR

A spot for Absolut Vodka shot on video by Mario Schifano.

Absolut '94

1994

Absolut '94 poster
NR

A spot for Absolut Vodka shot on video by Mario Schifano and Roberto Lucca Taroni.

Absolut '94

1994

Fotografo poster
NR

Unlike Reflex, Schifano's center of interest in this very short film is Gattinoni's models and not the photographer.

Fotografo

1967

Reflex poster
NR

Experimental short featuring fashion photographer Bob RIchardson at work in his studio.

Reflex

1964

Reflex poster
NR

Experimental short featuring fashion photographer Bob RIchardson at work in his studio.

Reflex

1964

No artwork available
NR

A 1964 short film by Mario Schifano.

Round Trip

1964

Vietnam poster
NR

The Vietnam War was extensively televised, and Mario Schifano, in turn, filmed it from the television, in fragments, in keeping with a typical procedure of pop art and a fundamental technique of his work in painting. The director Marco Ferreri appears at the start of the film.

Vietnam

1967

Vietnam poster
NR

The Vietnam War was extensively televised, and Mario Schifano, in turn, filmed it from the television, in fragments, in keeping with a typical procedure of pop art and a fundamental technique of his work in painting. The director Marco Ferreri appears at the start of the film.

Vietnam

1967

No artwork available
NR

Experimental film based on promotional material of vodka brand Absolut.

Absolut Schifano

1985

No artwork available
NR

Experimental film based on promotional material of vodka brand Absolut.

Absolut Schifano

1985

No artwork available
NR

a short filmed on the set of Jean-Luc Godard's "Weekend"

Jean-Luc Cinema Godard

1967

No artwork available
NR

Experimental short by Mario Schifano.

Futurismo Rivisitato

1974