Signor Civetta. David B.

Starting Monday, November 17, at 6:30 p.m., David B., one of the most important contemporary French comic artists and co-founder of the publishing house L’Association, will fill the exhibition spaces of the Cinema Modernissimo foyer with the original plates from his new book Signor Civetta, published in Italy by Sigaretten simultaneously with its French release.

Signor Civetta is a poetic and adventurous tale, a journey through the fantastic and unsettling universe of David B. The story begins on a Parisian night, with a meeting between two unusual characters: Marie, a young woman terrified of her own shadow—which takes the form of a tiger—and Mister Owl, a psychopomp being, half human and half animal, who offers to cure her fears by guiding her into the Land of the Dead.

In this strange and overcrowded Afterlife, everything that has ceased to live accumulates—not only people, but also abandoned buildings, junkyard cars, broken and discarded objects, forgotten gods and creatures, yesterday’s rain and wind… A world as terrifying as it is marvelous, where Marie must find her way and stay alive without being discovered by Cerberus, the ferocious three-headed guard dog that seeks to devour her.

With this work—developed intermittently over more than thirty years—David B. has created a true celebration of imagination. This graphic novel, with its clear and captivating linework, builds an entire visual mythology, drawing on multiple cultures and traditions, while narrating and transforming the moving adventure of a young woman facing her fears and life’s traumas as she journeys through the Land of the Dead.

Curated by Sigaretten Edizioni Grafiche, in collaboration with Hamelin, Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, and L’Association.
Part of the A occhi aperti (With Eyes Wide Open) program.