Reopening Arena La Sirenetta | Screening of ‘Terra di Nessuno’ and Video-Performance by Masbedo

Manifesta 12 reopens the Arena La Sirenetta in Mondello, that was closed 12 years ago: a real piece of memory for Palermitans that now can live again the opportunity to watch a movie en plein air. This is also a great attraction for Manifesta 12 visitors, who can join the famous seaside near Palermo.

From July, the Arena La Sirenetta will host the Manifesta 12 Film Programme, starting on Friday, 20 July, with Terra di Nessuno, a video performance by Masbedo and screening of Mario Baffico’s film. Starting from 20 July at 9pm, the Manifesta 12 Film Programme will unfold in a calendar of screenings and events scheduled every week, from Thursday to Sunday, until 9 September. The complete programme of films and events is available online at www.manifesta12.org/film-programme.

The duo Masbedo, Mayor of Palermo Leoluca Orlando, Councillor of Culture Andrea Cusumano, Manifesta 12 Project Manager Roberto Albergoni and Manifesta 12  Creative Mediator Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli will attend the opening of the Arena La Sirenetta on Friday, 20 July.

Following the Protocol 90/6 installation in Palermo’s Archivio di Stato, and inspired by the personal and professional life events of director Vittorio De Seta, the artistic duo Masbedo gives life to a new performative intervention named after Mario Baffico’s famous film Terra di Nessuno. Masbedo’s video performance is the second event of a trilogy of performances that arise from the project Videomobile (2018) exhibited at the Palazzo Costantino until 4 November 2018.

Mario Baffico’ Terra di Nessuno is based on two novels by Luigi Pirandello: Requiem Aeterna Dona Eis Domine (1913), which focuses on the struggle of a people for the right to burying one’s own dead in a land where one lives and works; and Romulus (1915), which tells the dream of a man who wants to found an ideal city. For their performance,Masbedo took the missing parts of the film and inserted new sequences taken from their Videomobile project– generating new images and adding contemporary subjects.

Terra di Nessuno and Videomobile are works commissioned by and for Manifesta 12 Palermo, The Planetary Garden. Cultivating Coexistence, and produced by Beatrice Bulgari for In Between Art Film. The Manifesta 12 Film Programme is produced by In Between Art Film, Italy and supported by Vidi Square and Sicilia Film Commission, Ufficio Speciale per il Cinema e l’Audiovisivo. The screenings at Arena La Sirenetta are supported by Progetto di Riqualificazione Urbana Infrastrutture e Sicurezza della Città di Palermo.

All screenings at La Sirenetta are free, but seat are limited. No bookings required.

Title: Terra di Nessuno (Nobody’s Land)
Director: Mario Baffico
Year: 1939
Country: Italy
Genre: Drama
Duration: 91 min.
Language: Italian (with English subtitles)