Films byTexts by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) was an Italian filmmaker, poet, writer, actor and public intellectual. He’s known for his raw and poetic films such as Accattone (1961), Mamma Roma (1962), Il vangelo secondo Matteo [The Gospel According to St. Matthew] (1964), Teorema (1968), Il Decameron (1971) and Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975). Between 1961 and 1975 he directed 23 films and was co-director or screenwriter for another 18 films. In addition to his films, Pasolini published numerous collections of poems and several works of literary criticism. Pasolini was murdered on 2 November 1975 on the beach of Ostia.

FILM
Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962, 106’

I am a force of the Past.
My love lies only in tradition.
I come from the ruins, the churches
the altarpieces, the villages
abandoned in the Apennines or foothills
of the Alps where my brothers once lived.
I wander like a madman down the Tuscolana,

FILM
Love Meetings
Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964, 93’

Director Pasolini traverses Italy in 1963 with camera and microphone interviewing people in public places about sex, marriage and gender roles.

 

FILM
Oedipus Rex
Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1967, 104’

Rescued from abandonment and raised by the King and Queen, Oedipus is still haunted by a prophecy – he'll murder his father and marry his mother.

 

Louis Valentin: Do you love life?

FILM
Theorem
Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968, 98’

“My hatred for the bourgeoisie is not documentable or arguable. It’s just there and that’s it. But it’s not a moralistic condemnation; it is total and unmitigated, but it is based on passion, not on moralism.

FILM
Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1971, 111’

Pasolini’s obsession was with finding a world outside of all the commodifications of capitalism, including, prominently, the bodily.

FILM
The Canterbury Tales
Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1972, 111’

“Despite all the writings, and they are voluminous, by Pasolini and about Pasolini, there is little reference to the fact that his work is an outstanding example of artistic Modernism. Perhaps the silence is due to his fierce dislike and rejection of Modern society.