Un dog for every eleven inhabitants: Milan loves dogs today but has always loved them. And it celebrates them this autumn with a large, moving themed exhibition that proves it. Come Home – Dog Stories, It can be visited from Friday 22 September until Sunday 29 October Cineteca Milano MIC. On show, original posters which appeared posted on the walls of Milan among the twenties and forties of the last century in which families reported the disappearance of their beloved pet, in the hope of finding it again. But since it is still a film archive, the exhibition will be accompanied by a substantial one film festival, with many films, workshops and meetings.
“Come home”, old-fashioned posters to find lost dogs
«The words chosen by the owners to describe the lost animal are first of all declarations of an infinite affection, of a desperate and inconsolable love, who base their hope more on “chance” than on possible conscientious sightings of Milanese citizens”, says Matteo Pavesi, director of Cineteca Milano. Moving, intimate announcements, full of details known to the close family circle, «a small one Spoon River in a canine way. They evoke shepherd dogs, terriers, very agitated dachshunds in a Milan buried in post-war rubble, but also the inconsolable and desperate owners who rely on the luck of fate rather than accurate investigations. These are very strong and indissoluble bonds in which perhaps you want to publicly declare the sense of a painful lossrather than inviting detailed research.”
In addition to the posters mentioned and preciously preserved, the installation is enriched with a poster from the 1920s that takes us back to the greyhound races at San Siro. Of an evocative watercolor by the master Marcello Dudovich which immortalizes dogs during an arctic adventure. And one video installation dedicated to dogs in silent cinema which offers materials preserved by the Cineteca Archive, including the first film of pioneer of Milanese cinema Italo Pacchioni, The fake cripple at the Sforzesco Castle.
Films with dogs, the most beautiful stories of cinema. At the Mic in Milan
Created in collaboration with Monge (the dog food brand), the exhibition is accompanied by a raward of canine-themed films. 27 films, including classics, children’s films, arthouse films and restored filmsstarring the most famous four-legged friends in the history of cinema.
Starting from the anthology, curated by Cineteca Milano drawing on absolute rarities from its archive, of short films from silent cinema (22 September). From the chronophotographic studies of Eadweard Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey (1887-1894), to the Lumière catalog with Toilette du petit chien (1900) passing through The madhouse And The fake cripple at the Sforzesco Castle (1896) filmed by the pioneer of Milanese silent cinema Italo Pacchioni.
For fans of black and white cinema will screen three classics that have made history: (Dog’s Life) A Dog’s Life Of Charlie Chaplin (1918), and two films restored for the occasion by Cineteca Milano with protagonist Rin Tin Tinthe most famous German shepherd in the world. The Silent Accuser (Find Your Man) by Mal St. Clair (1924) e Rin Tin Tin and the Condor (The Night Cry) by Herman C. Raymaker (1926).
Animated cinema, from Lady and the Tramp to Frankenweenie
The little ones will not be disappointed, for whom Cineteca Milano has thought of a selection of 13 unmissable films. From Disney classics Lady and the Tramp (1955) e 101 Dalmatians (1961), up to the most recent The dog and his general by Francis Nielsen (2003), passing through the dark stop-motion animation of Tim Burton Frankenweenie (2012).
Author classics, from Umberto D. to Dogman
And finally, the author classics. As Umberto D. (1952) by Vittorio De Sica, where the relationship of trust and affection with the little dog Flik turns out to be saving for the old and only former official of the Ministry Umberto. Amores Perros (2000) by Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu. OR The Artist (2011) by Michel Hazanaviciuswith which Jack Russell co-star Uggie won the Palm Dog Award at the Cannes Film Festival, an award also given to Marcel! (2022) by Jasmine Trinca. Or again Dogmanby Matteo Garrone.
Also on the program is Simone Massi’s animated masterpiece The memory of dogs (2006), award-winning at many international festivals.
There will be no shortage of meetings and workshops in which associations and experts from the dog sector will give valuable advice and guidance to ensure the well-being of the dog, and will propose games and practical exercises to involve the public and their four-legged friends.
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