IMAGINARIA MEETINGS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20
San Benedetto Terrace | 7:30 PM | Free admission
Imaginaria Meetings | Author Meetings
PINO CREANZA
presents “Lama Loco – Metamorphic Psycho-Experipezie in the Bonzosfera”
Lama Loco – Metamorphic Psycho-Experipezie in the Bonzosfera is the latest comic book by Pino Creanza, one of the most original and reclusive authors of the Frigidaire generation. The protagonist is a wandering one-eyed, one-legged bonze, a modern-day Odysseus who embarks on a visionary journey that intertwines irreverent tragicomedy, psychedelic spirituality, and philosophical reflection, in a plot animated by surprising graphic inventions, cutting irony, and a narrative structure that challenges conventions. We will discuss this with the author, who will be present at Imaginaria with his books and drawings, on August 20th at 7:30 PM.
The Author
Pino Creanza debuted with his humorous and surreal comic strips in Frigidaire in the early 1990s and has since appeared in numerous publications, from Manifesto to Dinamite, Mondo Mongo, Repubblica XL, ANIMAls, and EAST, as well as online and in numerous fanzines. His characters include Prof. Knox, Tom and Ponsi, and Gino & Sberla. In 2013, he published Cairo Blues, a graphic novel dedicated to the Egyptian capital during the “revolution” that led to the fall of Mubarak. The comics, which can be read on his blog sillytragedies.it, have been translated and published in France, Spain, and Egypt. In addition to his comics, which can be read on his blog sillytragedies.it, he has published several children’s books (“Michelino and the Bandits’ Treasure,” “The Disappeared Olive Tree,” “Escape from Planet Mongo”).
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21
Terrace of San Benedetto | 7:30 PM | Free admission
Imaginaria Meetings – Meetings with Authors
MARINO GUARNIERI
Director, animator, illustrator, and graphic designer, he has worked across all forms of expression and communication for the past 25 years. He entered animation by collaborating with television broadcasters, public bodies, and later as an author, participating in the creation of commercials and music videos, TV theme songs, educational products, documentaries, specials, and feature films. He began collaborating with MAD Entertainment right from its founding, participating in various projects. He worked on the feature film The Art of Happiness (2013) by A. Rak as Assistant Director, covering technical, artistic, and organizational roles, including Director of 2D Animation and Special Effects, and Editor. The film, which has won multiple international awards, won the European Film Awards 2014 for Best European Animated Film. His first feature film as a director, Cenerentola the Cat, directed together with Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello and Dario Sansone, produced by MAD Entertainment with RAI cinema, was presented at the 74th Venice Film Festival, in the Orizzonti section and distributed in Italy and abroad, garnering acclaim and important awards, to the point of being included in the Academy’s short list for the 2018 Oscars and winning two David di Donatello Awards (Best Digital Effects and Best Production) and a Nastro d’Argento. He is currently the Coordinator of the Animated Film Course at the Italian School of Comix, for which he directed the promotional commercial Chi sogna Disegna (2013) and the short film Mezzanotte di Segni (2015). Since 2019 he has also been the president of ASIFA Italia (International Animated Film Association) with which he made the short film LOOP (2020). He recently completed his work as Assistant Director, Artistic Director, and Editor on the film Yaya and Lennie – The Walking Liberty (2021) by A. Rak and is currently working on pre-production on the short film Due Battiti, funded by MiBacT.
For the occasion, Marino Guarnieri will present his book “Chiedi al maestro. Confronti d’autore sull’animazione” (Ask the Master. Author-led comparisons on animation), published by Tunuè.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22
Terrace of Saint Benedict | 7:30 pm | Free admission
Imaginaria Meetings – meetings with the authors
MICHLE OCELOT
in conversation with Marino Guarnieri
The meeting will be supported by an interpreter for Italian translation.
Born on the French Riviera, Michel Ocelot spent his childhood in Guinea and grew up in the Loire Valley before settling in Paris. He has dedicated his entire career to animated film. From the beginning, all his works were based on his own scripts and graphics. Among his short films, he directed The 3 Inventors (1980 BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, London), followed by The Legend of the Poor Hunchback (1983 César Award for Best Animated Short Film, Paris).
In 1998, Michel Ocelot became known to the general public with the success of his first feature film, Kirikou and the Sorceress. He then made Princes and Princesses, fairy tales set in a shadow theater, created using cut-out animation, and Kirikou and the Wild Beasts, co-directed with Bénédicte Galup. Azur et Asmar (2007), his fourth feature film, is another fairy tale set on both sides of the Mediterranean. It was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. At the end of 2008, he released a DVD compilation of his short films, “The Hidden Treasures of Michel Ocelot,” his life and work before Kirikou. In July 2011, “Tales of the Night,” another silhouette film, was released for the first time in 3D. It was the only French feature film to be selected for the main competition at the 61st edition of the prestigious Berlin Film Festival. In 2012, Michel Ocelot completed filming the new Kirikou adventures, “Kirikou and the Men and Women.”
“Dilili in Paris,” set in the Belle Époque, won the 2019 César Award, France’s highest film award.
His latest feature film, “The Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess,” which consists of three very different stories, was released in October 2022.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 23
San Benedetto Terrace | 7:30 PM | Free admission
Imaginaria Meetings – meetings with authors
MANUELE FIOR
Imaginaria is pleased to present a solo exhibition dedicated to cartoonist and illustrator Manuele Fior, entitled “12 Covers.”
For the occasion, 12 original pieces selected by the artist will be on display, along with numerous images from works created throughout his artistic and professional career.
Manuele Fior is an internationally renowned artist and one of the most popular comic book authors in Italy and abroad. He was born in Cesena in 1975. He has lived in Berlin, Oslo, Paris, and Venice. His illustrations have appeared in magazines such as The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, newspapers such as La Repubblica, Le Monde, and Il Sole 24 Ore, and publishing houses such as Feltrinelli, Einaudi, and EL.
In 2017, he collected and commented on them in L’ora dei miraggi (Oblomov Edizioni). His graphic novel Cinquemila chilometri al secondo (Coconino Press 2010) won the Fauve d’Or award for Best Album at the 2011 Angoulême International Film Festival. Interview (Coconino Press 2013, Oblomov 2019) marks his black-and-white debut.
He has also published Le Variazioni d’Orsay (Coconino Press 2015), I giorni della merla (Coconino Press 2016), a collection of short stories, La signorina Else (Coconino Press 2009), an illustrated story based on Arthur Schnitzler’s novel of the same name, and Rosso Oltremare (Coconino Press 2006). Celestia, published in 2020 by Oblomov Edizioni, revisits the origins of Venice with a science fiction twist and won the Yellow Kid Author of the Year Award at the Lucca Comics Awards.
His latest graphic novel is Hypericon, published in 2022 by Coconino Press. His latest graphic novel will be published this fall.
