PIRANDELLO 150
Through Thursday, January 19
Nobel laureate for literature Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) has become an adjective for theater around the world via deeply probed themes of illusion and identity, with actors everywhere breaking the fourth wall, and commenting freely on the works they’re simultaneously performing. But further, in his stories and novels, he evoked the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes of his native Sicily. His influence alone has made him one of the seminal dramatists of the 20th century and has been acknowledged by Sartre, Camus, Beckett, Ionesco, Edward Albee, Arthur Miller, and Thornton Wilder, along with the more contemporary playwrights influenced by those writers.
Supported by the Italian Cultural Services, New York and Luce Cinecittà.
Presented in association with “Pirandello 150,” a city-wide, year-long festival commemorating the 150th anniversary of Pirandello’s birth, presented by the newly-formed Helluva Theatre Company. In addition to the film festival, it will include one-act plays, major theatrical productions, readings, panel discussions, podcasts, and academic seminars.
Reviews
“[Pirandello’s] works have inspired more than a hundred films and TV movies over the decades, but Film Forum has wisely chosen to focus on seven key adaptations. In doing so, they've emphasized an aspect of the proto-absurdist that many audiences might be unfamiliar with: his gifts as a storyteller of unnerving power, someone who could weave tales that left you in a genuinely troubling place.”
– Bilge Ebiri, The Village Voice