Ferdinando Scianna: Mereghetti’s review of the film

FERDINANDO SCIANNA – THE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE SHADOW
Type: a novel in images
Direction: Roberto Andò. With Ferdinando Scianna and Gianni Berengo Gardin

The film that Roberto Andò dedicated to Ferdinando Scianna (to whom he owed the courage to throw himself into making cinema) more than a documentary it is a dialogue, a long chat between friendswith the director who questions and the photographer who every now and then would like to shield himself, while the ghost of Sciascia hovers among the images and many friends – including Giuseppe Tornatore, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Renata Colorni, Mimmo Paladino, Marco Belpoliti – peep out.

In his images «it feels like reading a great novel, from which places, faces and voices of the world emerge» (to steal the director’s words). There are the great moments of his photographic history, from the images of Sicilian religious festivals to the famous fashion shoot with Marpessa for Dolce&Gabbana to the shots for the Magnum agency, without forgetting his activity as a photojournalist forEuropean.

But what leaves its mark are its family momentswith his wife Paola, with some childhood friends (the classmate rediscovered in Bagheria) where the humanity and modesty of one of the great Italian photographers illuminates the black and white that Andò chose for his film, a clear homage to the aesthetic choices preferred by Scianna.

For those who want to discover a truly great photographer.

THE TRAILER