Messa Partigiana
Trailer
Directed by Monika Salzbrunn and edited by Pascal Bernhardt and Monika Salzbrunn, duration 00:11:11
Poster and description
The feminist “Messa Partigiana” (Partisan Mass) was held on the Italian National Day, April 25th, in the ruins of the Santa Maria in Passione church in the historical part of Genoa. Directed by artist Simona Ugolotti, the satirical performance reinvented the Catholic mass in a carnivalesque way to commemorate Italian resistance activists such as Teresa Mattei and Ada Bernardi. Their memory was invoked by the performer, who saw herself as “guardian of memory”, and encouraged the participants to follow her example.
In producing this documentary film, the research team and film crew led by Monika Salzbrunn worked closely with Simona Ugolotti and those who participated in the event to incorporate their feedback into the filmmaking process. A first edited version was screened on the anniversary of the founding of the artists’ squat where the performance took place.
Create, resist, exist
Trailer
Directed by Monika Salzbrunn, edited by Sara Wiederkehr and Robbie I’Anson Price. Assistants: Raphaela von Weichs, Federica Moretti and Sara Wiederkehr, duration: 01:15:33
Poster and description
“Create, Resist, Exist. Artivistic Engagement in Cameroon, USA, France, and Italy” is a documentary film that illustrates how various art forms are utilised by activists in Cameroon, California, France, and Italy to mobilise against gentrification, mass tourism, and precarity. With carnivals, performances, and festivals, artists and activists demand recognition for their work, asserting their autonomy and their right to the city. They reclaim the streets by creating carnivalesque performances, comics, murals, and carnivals.
Directed by Monika Salzbrunn, the film presents from the research project ARTIVISM. Art and Activism. Creativity and Performance as Subversive Forms of Political Expression in Super-Diverse Cities, which she has led at the University of Lausanne. The images were made in collaboration with artists and activists from the different contexts explored during the project in Douala, Yaoundé, Los Angeles, Viareggio, Genoa, Nice and Marseille.