Ever since cinema took its first steps, it was clear that editing would take on a central role in the construction of directorial language. Styles have changed, languages have evolved, but the importance of editing in cinematographic syntax has remained the same as always: if for Pudovkin it was "the crucial creative act in the production of a film", for Godard "to say direction is automatically to say editing". Yet the activity of the editor is shrouded in a thick blanket of mystery, often impenetrable even to the most avid film devourers. But what importance does editing really have in the construction of cinematic narrative? How does it free its forces and condition its forms? Revealing the secrets of the "art of editing" will be Francesca Calvelli, one of the most lucid dramaturgical sensibilities of Italian cinema, already winner of four David di Donatello as best editor.
“As a twenty-year-old cinema enthusiast, at a certain point they pointed out to me a seminar on editing at the University of L'Aquila. I took part out of curiosity, without knowing exactly what "making a film" meant, it was my first approach to cinema. This seminar was held by Roberto Perpignani, who for three days dismantled and reassembled some sequences of La notte di San Lorenzo by the Taviani brothers, but he did it in such an engaging, passionate way that I literally fell in love with this thing I saw, to the point that when I left there I said to myself: "I want to do it too!"". (Francesca Calvelli)
Enrico Magrelli: Journalist and film critic, Enrico Magrelli has been, since the first episode, one of the authors and hosts of the Rai 3 daily program Hollywood Party. He was director of cinema news at Tele+. From 1979 to 1982 he was part of Carlo Lizzani's creative and organizational staff at the Venice Film Festival. From 1988 to 1990 he was Director of the Critics' Week of the Venetian festival. In 1991 he was Guglielmo Biraghi's right-hand man at the Venice Film Festival. His monographs dedicated to Robert Altman, Roman Polanski, Nanni Moretti. He has edited a dozen volumes including: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Marilyn Monroe, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Satyajt Ray. Since 2004, he has been part of the Selection Commission of the Venice International Film Festival, an event in which he works side by side with director Marco Müller. Since 2009 he has been Curator of the National Film Library. He is the author and host of Ciakpoint, a Rai Movie program dedicated to cinema.
Francesca Calvelli: Born in Rome in 1962, Francesca Calvelli graduated in editing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Assistant editor to Roberto Perpignani, she began working on industrial films and commercials, before collaborating on the editing of Rai programs (Quark and Geo). In 1992 he began his collaborative relationship with Marco Bellocchio, with whom he created, among others, l sogno della farfalla (1994), L’uomo dal fiore in bocca, Il principe di Homburg (1997), La Balia (1999), L’ora di religione (2002), Buongiorno, notte (2003), Il regista di matrimoni (2006), Vincere (2009), Sorelle mai (2010). He has also worked with Denis Tanovic (No man’s land, L’enfer, Triage), Saverio Costanzo (Private, La solitudine dei numeri primi), Cristina Comencini ( Quando la notte), Daniele Ciprì (È stato il figlio). Over the years she has won four David di Donatello as best editor.