ULYSSES - Scenes and behind the scenes of an Italian blockbuster

The exhibition "Ulisse. Scene e retroscene di un kolossal italiano" curated by Matteo Giacomelli will be on display in Bologna at the Spazio e Immagini gallery from September 3 to October 17, 2024.

The exhibition will feature 30 rare original period photographs of the first post-war Italian film colossal 70 years after its release in 1954. It is a cross-reading of the film through the language of photojournalism and set photography. Both traditional stage photographs and shots taken behind the scenes of the film are exhibited, giving us unexpected moments of leisure and private life. The actors of the myth are thus filmed in confidential and carefree atmospheres without neglecting the moments necessary for the preparation of the costumes and hairstyles of the stars. The lenses of photo reporters Federico Patellani and Ivo Meldolesi give us the American actors Kirk Douglas /Ulisse and Anthony Quinn/Antinoo alongside Rossana Podestà/ Nausicaa and Silvana Mangano in the dual role of Circe and Penelope. The director Mario Camerini and the crew are immortalised with many workers at work on the set. Augusto Di Giovanni's photography gives us an extraordinary portrait of Silvana Mangano in the guise of Circe.

These photographs, intended to illustrate magazines and photo novels (fotoromanzi), offer the magazine readers a drop of that Hollywood on the Tiber made of celluloid and lightness, capable of making our country dream even overseas, already projected towards the future.