(Translated from the original Italian)

From Friday 1 December 2023 to Wednesday 31 January 2024 (previously 7 January), the exhibition “FilmmakHER. Twenty-four female directors you may not have heard of yet” in collaboration with the 24FPS Association and Cubo – Contenitore Creativo and the Spine Cultural Association. The project is promoted by the Locus Festival Association with the Presidium of the Book and with the patronage of the Municipality of Alberobello. The exhibition can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.30am to 6.30pm continuously, entry to the Museum is €4.00 for a full ticket and €3.00 for a reduced ticket.

“After a summer of great cultural success for the many international activities and record tourist flows – explains the mayor, Francesco De Carlo – the Casa Pezzolla Territory Museum, a UNESCO site of inestimable value which houses ancient furnishings of peasant civilization which for years did not see the light, returns in great shape to shine with its own light with FilmmakHER, the exhibition which is a tribute to female cinematography which we welcomed without any hesitation because Alberobello is among the few municipalities to have a gender political presence prevalent.”

The centrality of the theme of gender equality is on stage, narrating the world of culture and the seventh art: more and more female directors are winning awards at prestigious world festivals, unfortunately many female names in the history of cinema still remain hidden. The exhibition was born from the need to tell their stories through a journey of texts, illustrations (thanks to the drawings of Mara Cerri, Elenia Beretta, Cecilia Sammarco, Maria Giulia Chistolini, Simona Iamonte, Daniela Goffredo, Monica Lasagni, Alessia Bevilacqua) and meetings of in-depth analysis. Twenty-four directors from different origins and eras were selected, from 1873 to today: filmmakers, pioneers, activists, women sometimes far from the dominant circuits who have overturned the rules of the audiovisual industry with determination, giving spectators the opportunity to recognize themselves and find yourself in characters represented according to different and new points of view. A dialogue between different art forms, such as cinema, illustration and publishing, to create a choral story and give strength to the narrative on the commitment and work of women.

This initiative is part of the Locus Muse 2023 project, conceived and organized by the Locus Festival Association, which enjoys the prestigious support of the Directorate General for Entertainment – Ministry of Culture and collaboration with the Puglia Region.

“With this new cultural project – adds Valeria Sabatelli, Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Alberobello – the Administration intends to pursue a dual objective: safeguarding the cultural heritage of the cities, guaranteeing the opening of the Territory Museum to the public of citizens and visitors, and at the same time consolidate national (and even international!) initiatives thanks to the renewed partnership with the Locus Festival Association, which will allow us to experiment with a new management model for our museum until May 31st.”

During the months of management of the Museum, in addition to the temporary exhibition “FilmmakHER. Twenty-four female directors you may not have heard of yet” , Locus Festival will implement the cultural offering with the proposal of other exhibitions/reviews and above all musical events as a corollary to the individual initiatives.

“After the summer success of the exhibition ‘Frida Kahlo. A life for images’ – concludes Giovanni Buttiglione, legal representative of the Locus Festival Association – we are pleased to be able to continue the collaboration with the Municipality of Alberobello also for the winter period. At Casa Pezzolla the temporary exhibition entitled ‘Filmmak-Her. 24 female directors you may not have heard of’. The works were created by 9 Italian illustrators who were entrusted with the task of portraying twenty-four female filmmakers from the history of national and international cinema. A project that boasts the prestigious support of the Directorate General for Entertainment – Ministry of Culture”.

The exhibition will finally be accompanied by two concerts with free entry, scheduled in the Church of Sant’Antonio di Padova in Alberobello, the first with the pianist and composer Rita Marcotulli, one of the most authoritative figures of the Italian jazz scene (Wednesday 6 December) and the another with the harpist Kety Fusco accompanied by visuals curated by Marica de Michele (Saturday 30 December).

Directors featured: Alice Guy Blaché, Elvira Notari, Germaine Dulac, Leni Riefensthal, Maya Deren, Cecilia Mangini, Agnès Varda, Lina Wertmuller, Vera Chytilova, Iliana Cavani, Barbara Hammer, Chantal Akerman, Kathryn Bigelow, Jane Campion, Alina Marazzi, Emma Dante, Sofia Coppola, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Celine Sciamma, Alice Rohrwacher, Mati Diop, Julia Ducournau, Greta Gerwig, Laura Samani.