Carla Lonzi in Francesca Archibugi's documentary, inside and outside the world

At the physical and intellectual center of the documentary Carla Lonzi - Dentro e fuori dal mondo, directed by Francesca Archibugi, there is a scene that—if I didn't hate the term—I would call iconic, in which the director herself and Nanni Moretti stroll through Villa Pamphili in Rome discussing how the '68 movement had a hard time accepting feminism because in some way it undermined its principles. A reflection that seems the very image of the life and work of Carla Lonzi, to whom the director, who knew her, dedicates this intense page that traverses the political, social, and artistic thought of our country. The documentary, presented in preview at the 83rd edition of the Venice International Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori - Eventi speciali section, will be in theaters again as a not-to-be-missed event on October 26, 27, and 28. In Carla Lonzi - Dentro e fuori dal world there is not only Nanni Moretti, of course; speaking are many of those who knew and studied her, starting with her son Battista Lena (musician and composer, author of the documentary's beautiful music), Giulia Siviero, Suzanne Santoro, and the philosopher Maria Luisa Boccia. Her son's account also serves somewhat as the film's common thread, precisely because of that moving between the private and the public that Lonzi practiced in her existence—too short, unfortunately, as she was killed by a terrible facial cancer at just 51 years old on August 2, 1982. And she shows herself, until the end, with her face half-covered due to the terrible disfigurement she suffered after the operation in Zurich. Yet smiling, with that intensity all her own that characterized her life and work, and which is here restored through unpublished archival material, photographs, and Lonzi's own voice. Francesca Archibugi constructs an intimate and passionate account, conveying the very essence of Lonzi's thought in dialogue with all the revolutionary experiences of the Sixties and Seventies, through many themes such as the body, nature, myth, and memory. Her legacy is very strong and extremely relevant, and not by chance La Nave di Teseo is reprinting her works, from Sputiamo su Hegel e altri scritti (which includes the Manifesto di Rivolta Femminile), to Taci, anzi parla. Diario di una femminista, up to Vai pure and Autoritratto. Feminism, Carla Lonzi maintained, is not born from a theory but from a vital necessity, at the moment when a woman refuses to recognize herself in a world that excludes her. A world with which she communicated through art, her love with Pietro Consagra, her conflicted friendship with Carla Accardi, with whom she had founded Rivolta femminile in 1970 together with Elvira Banotti. And further and further back, to that first boyfriend who had fallen in love with her younger sister, and that pain of hers that left its mark in a reflection on relationships, love, female identity, the body. In short, a story of poetry and art, but also of commitment, which from the past should illuminate the present. A Fandango production with Rai Cinema, in association with Luce Cinecittà and MIC - Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo, a work produced and distributed with the contribution of the Fund of the Ministry of Culture for the development of investments in cinema and audiovisuals, Carla Lonzi - Dentro e fuori dal mondo will be in theaters with Fandango Distribuzione. Video: Archibugi presents the documentary on Carla Lonzi All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA