GFDD and FUNGLODE’s Global Media Arts Institute Will Present the Panel Discussion: “Homage to Two Film Greats: Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni”
Santo Domingo, September 5, 2007

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 20th 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 whom he would later work with, 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