Cinematic Concert: Il Fuoco

Directed by Giovanni Pastrone (1915)
51 minutes

Spark, blaze, and ash: fire and passion are destined to follow the same path of rise and fall. Giovanni Pastrone tells this story in one of his masterpieces, a drama both baroque and essential, which launched the mysterious owl-woman Pina Menichelli into the firmament of movie divas. The actress was yet to be famous when Il fuoco was released, but her charisma immediately won over audiences, giving life to a new model of distant and fatal dark lady.

A leap into the past before the opening of the 61st edition of the Chicago International Film Festival. Once again, the Italian Cultural Institute presents a unique cinematic concert, with a screening of Giovanni Pastrone’s Il fuoco (1915), accompanied by Maestro Stefano Maccagno’s live piano improvisation, presented in collaboration with the Chicago International Film Festival and the Logan Center for the Arts.

Giovanni Pastrone (1883–1959), also known under the pseudonym Piero Fosco—used to present Il fuoco—was a director and film producer, one of the pioneers of Italian silent cinema. As director of Itala Film, he is renowned for the epic Cabiria (1914), which introduced technical and narrative innovations that went on to influence world cinema.