GMAI Will Present Panel Discussion on Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni

 On September 7, 2007 at 7:00 pm in the FUNGLODE Auditorium, GFDD and FUNGLODE’s Global Media Arts Institute (GMAI) will present the panel discussion: “Homage to Two Film Greats: Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni.” The program will pay tribute to the two filmmakers’ contributions to modern film through their innovative use of thematics and narrative.

 

Panelists will include: Arturo Rodríguez, DINAC Director and Film Critic; Luis Beiro, Journalist and Writer; José Vásquez, Screenwriter; and Rubén Lamarch, Journalist and Film Critic.

 

Ingmar Bergman, Swiss writer, filmmaker and screenwriter, is considered to be one of the principal directors of the second half of the 20^th century. For many, he is one of the
most prominent artists of the cinematographic world. Intimate filmmaker, he knew how to touch the hearts of his female audience.

 

His extensive filmography includes films such as: Wild Strawberry (1957), The Seventh Seal (1956), Persona (1966) and Fanny and Alexander (1982), amongst others.

 

Bergman died on July 30, 2007, at the age of 89, on the Island of Fǻrö where he had spent much of his retirement. The Swiss filmmaker passed away the same day as did Italian director, Michelangelo Antonioni.

 

Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian writer, filmmaker and painter, graduated with a degree in economics from the University of Bologna, and arrived in Rome in 1942 where he carried-out studies at the
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia de Cinecittà. There he met various artists, some of with whom he would later work, among them, Roberto Rossellini, “father” of Italian neo-realism.

 

Politically, he described himself as anti-fascist, a “Marxist intellectual,” however, some writers doubted his political followings. In contrast to his contemporary, Federico Fellini, whose initial
works resonated deeply with the working class, Antonioni’s first films, Chronicle of a Love and Lady Without a Camellia, highlighted the lives of the elite and urban bourgeoisie. He is known as the filmmaker of incommunication because of his characters’ difficulty expressing their feelings.

 

Some of his many renowned works include: Red Dessert (1964),
Night (1961), Eclipse (1962) and Adventure (1960), amongst others.

 

IGM is dedicated to providing innovative and comprehensive training to film industry professionals in all areas of audiovisual production and to promoting and enriching understanding and appreciation of the audiovisual arts and their role in society.

 

For further information on this event, please contact:

Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo

Audiovisual Department

Tel. (809) 685-9966, ext. 2113

Fax (809) 685-9926
igm@globalfoundationdd.org