Simone Rapisarda Casanova is an Italian

experimental filmmaker Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

currently living in Canada. In 2014 he won the Leopard for Best Emerging Director at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...

Life

Rapisarda Casanova was born in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also b ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He developed an interest in photography and cinema while studying Computer Science at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

. Soon after moving to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

in 2000, he abandoned his career in the software industry to devote himself to studying film, first in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

and later in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. He is both an active filmmaker and a teacher (

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and sta ...

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

Ciné Institute Ciné Institute is a film school in Jacmel, Haiti, which grew out of the Jacmel Film Festival in 2008. It is the first and only film school in Haiti founded by David Belle. The college offers a free two-year tuition made possible by private don ...

). He is currently a professor of film at Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts.

Filmography

Blending documentary and fiction, Rapisarda Casanova’s experimental films are the result of a process-driven approach in which the filmmaker, eschewing screenwriting and production-planning, personally tackles all aspects of preproduction, production and postproduction. His style is marked by an oneiric approach to storytelling, long takes, fixed camera positions, and the choice of non-actors who improvise on a loose outline. The filmmaker only shoots one take for each scene and, at a later stage, chooses and assembles only what seems to evoke the most intimate essence of characters and places. Metacinematic narratives, diegetic

soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term was originally coined by Michael Southworth, and popularised by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

s, low-angle shots and the extensive use of wide-angle and ultra wide-angle lenses are other trademarks of his style. Those stylistical choices are driven by multiple intents: to explore the boundaries of the medium, to make the spectator aware of cinematic artificiality, and to question the ethics of Western ethnographic filmmmaking.

El árbol de las fresas (The Strawberry Tree)

(Canada/Cuba/Italy, 2011, 71 min) The first feature-length film by the author is an experimental

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

that captures the last days of the village of Juan Antonio,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

, shortly before

hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

wiped it out. The film was included in

Film Comment ''Film Comment'' is the official publication of Film at Lincoln Center. It features reviews and analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world. Founded in 1962 and originally released as a quarterly, ''Film Co ...

’s list of the “Fifty Best Undistributed Films of 2012.”

La creazione di significato (The Creation of Meaning)

(Italy/Canada, 2014, 90 min) An aging but tenacious Tuscan shepherd, Pacifico Pieruccioni, is forced by the economic crisis to give up the house and land where his parents had fought in the Resistance against the German Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Oddly enough, the prospective buyer is a young German. The shepherd and the prospective buyer start a conversation about history and present-day Italy. The film won the Best Emerging Director award at the

in 2014 and received a weeklong theatrical release at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

in 2015.

Zanj Hegel la (Hegel's Angel)

(Canada/Haiti/Italy/United States, 2018, 70 min) The film captures the daily life of a boy named Widley in contemporary

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...

, as it unfolds between mundane activities, mystic presences, the turmoil caused by upcoming elections, and his interest for the making of a weird film. With this film Rapisarda's research moves further into experimental ethnofiction following the shared ethnography path opened by

Jean Rouch Jean Rouch (; 31 May 1917 – 18 February 2004) was a French filmmaker and anthropologist. He is considered one of the founders of cinéma vérité in France. Rouch's practice as a filmmaker, for over 60 years in Africa, was characterized b ...

References

External links

Ibidem Films
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapisarda Casanova, Simone Italian film directors People from Catania Italian experimental filmmakers Canadian experimental filmmakers Italian contemporary artists Italian-language film directors Spanish-language film directors Canadian film educators Simon Fraser University faculty York University alumni Concordia University alumni University of Pisa alumni Italian emigrants to Canada Italian atheists Canadian atheists 1970 births Living people