Artemisia Gentileschi. Warrior Painter
Today 25 November the docufilm Artemisia Gentileschi. Warrior Painter is out: the release date of the film is not accidental as it coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a worldwide anniversary established by the UN General Assembly.
The film, produced by Delta Star Pictures, is directed by Jordan River, written by himself and Michela Albanese, and stars actress Angela Curri in the role of Artemisia. The production of the film availed itself of the advice of three art historians: Adriana Capriotti, Alessandra Masu and Simon Gillespie.
The film starts in 1618, when Artemisia Gentileschi, at the age of twenty-three, was the first woman to be admitted to a drawing academy. The documentary traces the entire life of the artist, who later became a symbol of world feminism for her character and the strenuous defense of her professional dignity, which emerge from the correspondence with collectors and personalities of her time, including Galileo Galilei.
Artemisia’s notoriety is also due to the violence suffered by a colleague, Agostino Tassi, an event that gave rise to a trial that the artist overcame with strength of character: thanks to painting, she managed to leave behind the scandal that the episode provoked, also finding the way of redemption both as a woman and as a painter, producing masterpieces capable of touching the heart and soul of those who still contemplate them today, four centuries after their realization.
Shot in very high definition, the work takes viewers on a journey through Artemisia’s masterpieces, now preserved in the most important museums in the world as well as in private collections.
“The work”, explains the director Jordan River, “does not intend to be reduced to a mere biographical story, which also already has potential characteristics, but wants to be a work (also didactic, precisely to provide useful tools also to the viewer cultural level) capable of letting us immerse ourselves in the power of art on an emotional level and understand what lives in the soul of an artist at times oppressed by those daily circumstances that life can sometimes reserve for a woman. A woman who loves to paint, but who finds herself in an era in which this is only allowed for men. In fact, Artemisia’s works are not common to all other artists, because in those canvases that the brushes have touched with the colors, those same colors represent a state of mind imprinted in that era, in that instant, by that inner energy. And in those nuances there is indeed all the strength of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro, but there is also the instant in which that light gave birth to a thought, as a new force and counterpart to the materiality of the world, an ‘impermanent materiality’ that can to be overcome thanks to the spiritual power of which art is the creator”
The director continues with:
“I wanted to create this work to also tell the inner dimension of an artist, even, in this case, a woman. In art documentaries, the spiritual dimension is almost absent. I think that when a ‘mature’ painter creates masterpieces, he does not limit himself to how to color and embellish the living rooms of rulers, but also, and above all, express an inner vision of human existence. I think that Artemisia’s life and her works can today make us immerse ourselves in the power of art on an emotional level and understand what lives in the soul of an artist at times oppressed by those everyday circumstances that life can sometimes reserve for a being. human”
The film is therefore also a way to address the issue of gender inequality, and violence against women is, unfortunately, still today a problem of truly remarkable global proportions.
If today there is at least a timid effort in the recognition of gender equality, in the seventeenth century, for example, women could not even go to an art shop. This common feeling was now imprinted in the mentality of the time, and this until a young woman named Artemisia (daughter of the painter Orazio Gentileschi), after being herself a victim of the violence of rape, decided to rebel. And thanks to her talent, in 1618, at the age of 23, Artemisia Gentileschi became the first woman to be admitted to a drawing academy, becoming the first Italian female artist to have an international career.
Artemisia Gentileschi. Warrior Painter has already been presented in some international festivals also winning important awards (Best Documentary at the XXIV Terra di Siena International Film Festival 2020; Best Docudrama award at the Global Nonviolent Film Festival 2020, USA; International Festival Visioni dal Mondo – Panorama Italiano 2020; finalist at the Los Angeles Cinematography Awards 2020, USA) and is in competition for the 2021 David di Donatello award.
The film was also scheduled to be released in theaters, but due to the closure of cinemas because of the Coronavirus pandemic, to reach the public with maximum safety, distribution, as well as in Italy and in over 15 countries (including the USA, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan), has decided to go directly to the platforms with Chili and Amazon Prime Video, on the symbolic date of 25 November to celebrate the world anniversary established by the United Nations General Assembly.
To see the film, you can follow all the updates and direct links to the platforms that will be published from time to time on the film portal at www.artemisiagentileschi-warriorpainter.com.
Trained at the University of Turin, where she obtained her three-year degree in Cultural Heritage Sciences and her master's degree in History of Archaeological and Historical-Artistic Heritage, she specialized at the University of Milan, graduating in Archaeological Heritage. Freelancer, she deals with computer archeology and virtual heritage, museum displays, 2D graphics and multimedia products applied to cultural heritage. Collaborates with various public and private bodies in the field of projects related to the research, enhancement, communication and promotion of cultural heritage. She deals with the creation of cultural itineraries relating to the entire Italian Peninsula and the development of content (creation of texts and photographic production) for paper and virtual publications. Her study interests include the development of new techniques and means of communication for the enhancement of cultural heritage and the evolution of the symbolism of power between the Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.
