Visconti Study Day

• National Film Theatre, NFT2
• Saturday 17 May, 10.00am to 3.30pm
• Tickets £13.00, concs £10.00

Marxist scion of an ancient Italian aristocratic family, Visconti brought a highly distinctive (and distinctively gay) sensibility to a body of work that began in the earliest days of neo-realism, took in psychological dramas and adaptations of Dostoyevsky, Camus and Thomas Mann as well as historical spectacle on the grandest operatic scale, and ended in the magisterial late chamber works of the 1970s.

The Visconti Day offered a chance to examine all aspects of the director's work and to consider how his reputation and influence have changed since his death in 1976. Speakers included Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, whose definitive study of Visconti has been republished in a revised edition, and Richard Dyer of the University of Warwick, currently working on a study of Visconti's crucial use of music. The day concluded with a panel discussion during which the debate was thrown open to the audience.

Programme

• 10.00 Introduction to day (Angela English, bfi Education)
• 10.05 Keynote Speaker: Geoffrey Nowell-Smith - 'Visconti | realism-melodrama-decadence'
• 11.00 Interval
• 11.15 Sergio Angelini will give a general overview of Visconti's life and career
• 12.00 Michele Lagny will discuss political aspects of Visconti's work
• 12.45 Interval
• 1.30 Keynote Speaker: Richard Dyer - 'Visconti and music'
• 2.30 Panel Discussion and Q&A (all speakers to participate plus Alex Marlow-Mann), Chair: Philip Kemp