Triumphs and Laments

Triumphs and Laments is a documentary that sees the meaning and symbolism of Kentridge’s work translate into another artistic language. The film chronicles William Kentridge’s most ambitious and controversial projects: a colossal frieze along the banks of the Tiber river in Rome portraying the glories and tragedies of the Eternal City that was commissioned in the summer of 2016. The film, shot with exclusive access to Kentridge over the course of two years from his home and studio in Johannesburg to the center of Rome, explores the link between Triumphs and Laments and the major themes in Kentridge’s practice, including racial equality and the complex relationship between spectacle and memory, among others. Detailing the artist’s vision and his creative process, the film also includes interviews with curators, researchers who have worked with Kentridge and his fans.

Triumphs and Laments is directed by Giovanni Troilo and produced by Andrea Patierno and Beatrice Bulgari, in collaboration with Sky ARTE HD, RAI Cinema and Lia Rumma. The film first premiered at Rome’s International Film Festival. Often regarded as the greatest contemporary work of art ever created in Rome, It took twelve years for Kentridge to finish Triumphs and Laments. Focusing on the last two years before its completion, the film is at once creative, lively, and unsettling. More than a tribute to Rome’s myth and beauty, the film also presents a disturbing picture of a city that is paralyzed by its past.

William Kentridge and his Triumphs and Laments

Known for his animations, drawings and theater plays, for the past 12 years William Kentridge has been working on Triumphs and Laments, his colossal tribute to the history of Rome. A 550-meter-long frieze made up of 90 ten-meter-high icons that appears on the banks of the river Tiber, Triumphs and Laments represents the city’s glories and defeats: from the murder of Remus to Pasolini, from Bernini to Dolce Vita and the refugee crisis.

Triumphs and Laments is bound to disappear in a few years. Unlike the Colosseum or the Pantheon, Triumphs and Laments is an ephemeral work of art. Kentridge’s icons are mounted onto the river’s white travertine bank with a vaporizer, which means that as soon as the organic growth and the pollution darkens the walls again the images will be gone for good, leaving this film as its only memory.

Giovanni Troilo

Giovanni Troilo’s work ranges from cinema to television, photography, and advertising. Between 2012 and 2015, Troilo directed for Sky Arte three documentary series about Italian photographers and a number of one-off documentaries, the list of which includes Caravaggio. Troilo’s photographic work has been published in Newsweek Japan, Der Spiegel, D di Repubblica, GQ Italy, CNN, Wired UK, Wallpaper, Vanity Fair, and Flair. In 2011 Troilo directed his first feature film, Fan Pio. In 2015, with the project La Ville Noire - The Dark Heart of Europe, he was awarded the People Photographer of the Year at Sony World Photography Awards. His latest film Coeurope was selected for the IDFA 2016.

TODOS CONTENTOS Y YO TAMBIEN

Todos Contentos y yo tambien specializes in film and documentary series targeting the international market. It has collaborated with a wide range of broadcasters, including SKY ARTE, a tv channel for whom it created some of its most characteristic series; ON THE ROAD; and RAI CINEMA, for whom it shot The War of the Volcanoes, an archival documentary that has been distributed in 42 countries, and Looking for Kadija, a documentary produced in Eritrea that was awarded Best Italian Documentary at the Rome Film Festival in 2014. Its latest production COEUROPE, produced in collaboration with RAI, was selected for the IDFA 2016.

IN BETWEEN ART FILM

In Between Art Film is a movie production company founded in 2007 by Beatrice Bulgari that specializes in the production of independent movies and documenaries based on inter-disciplinarity and exchange between the different artistic languages of our time. Among the most recent productions by In Between Art Film there are Molly Bloom (2016) directed by Chiara Caselli; Il nuotatore di Ra di Martino (2016); Where is Rocky II? (2016) directed by Pierre Bismuth; Istanbul and il Museo dell'Innocenza by Orhan Pamuk (both work 2015), directed by Grant Gee; and Napoli '44, a docu-film based on Norman Lewis’ book, directed by Francesco Patierno and narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. In Between Art Film also collaborates with different organizations such as Miart, Fiera Internazionale D'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Milano Biennale of Moving Images, and Centre D'Art Contemporain Gèneve, for projects and partnerships designed to promote interdisciplinarity between visual arts.