KINO BASAGLIA: Alda Merini – A Woman on Stage 

Alda Merini – A Woman on Stage / Alda Merini – Una donna sul palcoscenico

Cosimo Damiano Damato, Italy, 2009/2021, 60’, sp 

A deeply personal account in which the poet Alda Merini bares her soul, recounting life in a mental health institution, love, children, and the importance of being a poet. 

Produced over the course of three years, this intimate and candid documentary portrait of one of the greatest poetic voices of the 20th century, is a lengthy interview in which Alda Merini (1931 – 2009) revisits the crucial moments of her life often ravaged by pain and suffering. Alda Merini tells her story with grace: her voice is pure harmony for the soul. Speaking in verse, smiling, moved, she recounts her moments of mental suffering, the experience of the asylum, separation from her children, abandonment and poverty, her relationship with love “which is delirium,” and her relation to the sacred, to the Magnificat and St. Francis. 
Alda Merini, nicknamed the poetess of the Navigli because she lived most of her life on the banks of the Naviglio Grande in Milan, was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Navigli district has become a symbol of her poetry and of her intense and tormented life in Milan. 
Merini’s words are complemented by readings by Mariangela Melato. The film was screened at the 66th Venice Film Festival (Giornate degli Autori). 

N.B.
This version of the film Alda Merini – A Woman on Stage is a new version, re-edited by the director in 2020. 

Cosimo Damiano Damato (1973) is a versatile artist born in Puglia. A poet, playwright, screenwriter, and director, he began his prolific career in theatre, collaborating with leading figures in Italian culture, such as Alda Merini, Arnoldo Foà, Giancarlo Giannini, Michele Placido, Renzo Arbore, Luis Bacalov, Moni Ovadia, and Lucio Dalla.
Damato chronicled Alda Merini’s final years, establishing a deep correspondence and friendship with her. In addition to the film Alda Merini – A Woman on Stage, he created the theatrical production Elettroshock. Recital per Alda Merini and edited publications based on his correspondence with the poet (Fate l’amore. Alda Dante Rock).
A retrospective of his work titled ‘Visioni, fantasie, sogni, rivoluzioni, poesie e follie’, exploring Damato’s cinema, known for its poetic and visionary style, was produced by Cineteca Nazionale.

In collaboration with Cinema Istria. 

The screening will be followed by a presentation of the book ‘Od blizu ni nihče normalen’ (Up Close, Nobody Is Normal), a Slovene translation of selected articles and essays by Franco Basaglia (1924–1980), the most influential Italian psychiatrist of the 20th century. The discussion, in Slovene, featuring Prof. Vito Flaker, author of the book’s foreword, and Trieste-based psychiatrist Ettore Jogan, a former colleague of Franco Basaglia, will be chaired by the book’s editor, Amelia Kraigher. 

The selected articles and essays by the most influential Italian psychiatrist of the 20th century, Franco Basaglia (1924–1980)—in their first Slovenian release in book format— significantly complement the works of renowned authors in the field of anti-psychiatry. The selection of Basaglia’s texts, compiled by Vito Flaker and Juš Škraban on commission from the /*cf. publishing house, is unique compared to selections of Basaglia’s writings in other languages. The first part of the book features his key theoretical texts, including pieces from books and anthologies that Basaglia edited or wrote together with his wife, Franca Ongaro Basaglia. In the second part, the selection is complemented by Basaglia’s spoken word: transcripts of his lectures, conversations, and discussions held during professional visits to Brazil toward the end of his life. While giving us a glimpse of how vividly Basaglia performed in public and engaged with audiences, these also offer his own perspective and commentary on the path he had travelled.