“Ambient and immanent metaphysics inform habits and manners that are, by our lights, anything but ordinary; these ecstatic wonders may be a menace to the settled ways of our own rational contemporaries, but they're still given sublime voice in the opera, nowhere more than in the reckless thrills provided by Callas herself.” - Richard Brody, New Yorker

September 14, 7:30pm | Pasolini cast the renowned opera diva Maria Callas in the titular role of his ambitious and abstract adaptation of the Greek tragedy by Euripides. Under Pasolini’s direction, Callas - in her only feature film performance - is rhapsodic as the mythical sorceress, giving a commanding performance steeped in power, madness and revenge.


Pier Palo Pasolini - Poetry, Passion & Provocation: One hundred years after his birth and nearly fifty years after his death, the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini continue to shock and provoke audiences, a filmography defined by powerful imagery and thematic juxtapositions: the sacred and the profane, the pious and the perverse, the personal and the political. One of the most distinctive filmmakers of the 60s and 70s, and one of cinema’s most venerated auteurs, Pasolini challenged the boundaries of filmmaking, self expression, and censorship, leaving him with a legacy of distinctive and singular work. Content consideration: films in this series contain sexual themes and imagery. View full series here.

This series is made possible by, and presented with generous support from, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Chicago. IIC Logo


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