Washington DC – On Monday, April 13, the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington and New York University DC, in collaboration with the European-American Cultural Foundation, presented the documentary Mario Verdone: il critico viaggiatore directed by Luca Verdone.
The film is set in the family home in Cantalupo, where the Verdone siblings—Carlo, Luca, and Silvia—together with Silvia’s husband, Christian De Sica, gather to sort through the archive. Among paintings, photographs, and books, they begin to recall memories. As the narrative unfolds on both an emotional and intellectual level, a portrait emerges of a deeply loved man and a multifaceted scholar, an expert in twentieth-century avant-garde movements, particularly Futurism.
Through a dialogic narrative, the documentary retraces the entire arc of Mario Verdone’s life: his childhood and adolescence in Siena; his passion for the circus; the Venice Biennale, where he served as a film selector; Rome and his work at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia; and finally his connection to his place of origin in the Sabina region, which becomes a true repository of memories.
What emerges is both the rediscovery of a key figure in film criticism and a portrait of an era that brought Italian cinema international acclaim.
The film, produced in 2024 by Iterfilm, Luce Cinecittà, and Rai Cinema, was shot in Italy and presented at the Rome Film Festival in 2024.
Luca Verdone at the presentation on Monday, April 13, at the NYU DC – Brademas Center.
