TWO DIVA FANTASIES: RAPSODIA SATANICA & IL FAUNO (Church of Film)

The cult of femininity & the modern woman, and a belief in the occult powers of the newly-born cinematic medium, gave rise to a new kind of film in Italy: that of imperious majesty, demonic appeal, and feminist subversion, all focused on the image of a celluloid goddess, a Star: the Diva.

This program presents two films from the Diva cycle with a twist of gothic fantasy. RAPSODIA SATANICA (1917), featuring the legendary Lyda Borelli, is an entrancing visual poem in which a haughty woman makes a pact with the devil to regain her youth & beauty, with gorgeous stencil coloring. In THE FAUN (1917), a neglected woman falls in love with the statue of a mythical man-beast, escaping to live an idyllic romance in the wild.

Rapsosia Satanica will feature the existing original score, by the sensational opera composer Pietro Mascagni (the only film commission he ever accepted). Church of Film will provide an ambient track for THE FAUN.