In Front of Guernica (Director's Cut)
Painted by Picasso in 1937, Guernica is a universal icon against the war. In 2014, the artists Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi conceived a new film that tells the history of 20th century upon the painting. In 2023, years after Angela’s passing, Yervant accomplishes this task.
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Director Yervant Gianikian reflects that this film began when he visited the Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre in 2014. He visited the museum for the screening of the film he worked on with his partner Angela Ricci Lucchi (1942-2018), where he encountered Picasso’s Guernica. The profound impact of this painting prompted him and his partner to delve into old sources and documents on Spain. Drawing from their experience with found footage, Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi used various documentary records from the past to depict the fear of violence that is always looming despite a long time has passed in this film. The imagery of Italian fascism and Nazism becomes interwoven with other war-related images, capturing the essence of Picasso’s masterpiece through moving visuals. As the auteur suggests, this film, built upon his previous works, is a political, artistic, and historical exploration of violence in the 20th century. (Sung MOON)
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Yervant Gianikian⎜yervant.gianikian@gmail.com
Yervant GIANIKIAN, Angela Ricci LUCCHI
