Speaking to Power is a film program of documentaries portraying subversive acts of resistance, curated by Dr Eloise Fornieles and Marta Pellerini
This program brings together three films documenting the lives and activities of people speaking to power by demonstrating subversive acts of resistance. Inventive, touching and with bursts of humour, the filmmakers and their protagonists use film, performance and broadcasting to tell their stories and address the politics of power.
The first event in the Speaking to Power film series will be held on 8 January 2025 at 6 pm, with the screening of ‘Together with Lorenza Mazzetti’ by director Brighid Lowe.
The film is in English with Italian subtitles, and it is followed by a Q&A between director Brighid Lowe and artist Eloise Fornieles.
Lorenza Mazzetti is a rare example of a female filmmaker from the 1950s, whose catalytic energy and cultural legacy have not been fully appreciated. A survivor of Nazi occupation and trauma, her Strega prize winning first novel is still in print. As a co-founder of the influential Free Cinema movement, she is often either overlooked or aligned solely with British realist cinema. Together with Lorenza Mazzetti (2023, 55 mins) reassesses this legacy: a first film directed by artist Brighid Lowe working in partnership with Sight and Sound critic Henry K. Miller, it is an inspiring and insightful portrait of the filmmaker, novelist and artist at 90, filmed just two years before she died. Lorenza, a survivor of Nazi occupation and trauma, is a charismatic, funny and often moving storyteller, who recounts her arrival in the darkness of post-war London, in her words “this terrible town” and the influence of the freedoms and friendships found in art school at the Slade that launched her film career and the pioneering BFI Experimental Film Fund. Together With Lorenza Mazzetti incorporates pivotal archival research including the rediscovery of The Country Doctor (1953,11 mins) her short film that had been missing and unseen for over sixty years, in combination with extended extracts from Mazzetti’s films. The film yields new resonances with European cinema and literature in tandem with Mazzzeti’s traumatic family history to build a compelling re-evaluation of her cultural significance.
Together with Lorenza Mazzetti (2023) was selected for the Rome Film Festival 2023; To Save and Project, the 20th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation 2024, New York; Cinema Rediscovered Festival 2023, Bristol; and has screened at NFT1 at the BFI Southbank, and Batalha Cinema Centre, Portugal. Together with Lorenza Mazzetti is featured on the BFI Blu-ray, the Lorenza Mazzetti Collection (2023) with extended texts by Lowe and Miller in the accompanying DVD booklet.
Brighid Lowe is an artist and Associate Professor at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. In addition to her art practice, she collaborates on the Slade Film Project with film historian and critic Henry K. Miller, researching the history of art schools and film. Their research led to the discovery of a missing film by the pioneering filmmaker, artist, and novelist Lorenza Mazzetti. In 2023, Brighid Lowe’s first film, Together With Lorenza Mazzetti (2023, UK) was released. Based on recorded interviews from 2013 and 2018, the film is a candid and moving re-evaluation of Mazzetti’s cultural significance.
See the full programme here.
