๐๐ฌ๐ค ๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ช๐๐๐ค ๐๐ช๐ก๐๐, ๐ข๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ง๐ค๐ง: ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐
Owing to often limited budgets, tight production schedules, and the genres and subgenres he explored, the work of ๐๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ผ ๐๐๐น๐ฐ๐ถ (1927-1996) was long overlooked by critics and academics. For decades, Fulci was regarded, at best, as a resourceful craftsman. Nevertheless, figures such as Quentin Tarantino, Sam Raimi, and Clive Barker โ all instrumental in legitimising genre cinema โ have consistently expressed admiration for his work. In more recent years, Fulciโs filmography has undergone a significant critical reappraisal, extending well beyond cult audiences and earning a place within university curricula.
Spanning from the late 1950s to the early 1990s, Fulciโs prolific directorial career traversed a wide range of genres, from comedy and parody to spaghetti westerns and adventure films, and even ventures into sword-and-sorcery and postapocalyptic science fiction. However, he is most frequently remembered for his distinctive contributions to horror and thriller cinema.
The ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป (Italian at UM) and the ๐ .๐. ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐น๐บ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐, both within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta, celebrate Fulciโs visionary and provocative talent through two closely linked events.
The first event will take place on Thursday ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ at ๐ญ๐ด:๐ฌ๐ฌ in Room 116 of the Dun Mikiel Xerri Lecture Centre (๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฒ), Msida Campus. The ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ธ, entitled โ๐๐๐น๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐๐ฏ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ป-๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฃ๐ต๐ผ๐๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฟ๐ค๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ฟ๐ช๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐โ, will focus on ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ช ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ข ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ, a 1972 film that blends detective fiction, horror, and sharp social critique, marking a decisive shift towards explicit violence, elements already present in Fulciโs earlier work, but here elevated into a defining stylistic signature.
The talk, which will be delivered by Shyla Nicodemi a.k.a. ๐ฆ๐ต๐๐น๐ฎ ๐ก., will offer a historical and thematic overview of Fulciโs cinematic corpus before concentrating on recently rediscovered on-set photographs from Non si sevizia un paperino. These images remained unpublished until last year, when Bloodbuster โ a Milan-based bookshop and publishing house devoted to genre cinema โ released them in a bilingual Italian-English volume. The more than eighty photographs were meticulously restored by Shyla N. through a rigorous analogue and manual digital process, deliberately avoiding the use of AI tools in order to preserve the material integrity of the original negatives.
The ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ will take place on Friday ๐ด ๐ ๐ฎ๐ at ๐ฎ๐ญ:๐ฌ๐ฌ at Eden Cinemas (Paceville, St Julianโs), where for the first time in Malta ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ช ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ข ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ will be screened in its newly restored version by Arrow Films, presented in Italian with English subtitles. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Shyla N.
The two events are organised in collaboration with ๐ช๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐ฐ๐, the NGO behind the long-running and widely renowned Malta Comic Con, and VIDEO NASTIES!, a fast-growing local festival dedicated to independent horror short films.
A sound engineer and street photographer with over two decades of experience in both analogue and digital formats, Shyla N. began working with 35mm film at the age of ten under the guidance of her grandfather, Cesare Saska, who had worked at the legendary Barrandov Studios in Prague. Her photographs have been exhibited in both solo and group shows in Milan and Berlin, and have appeared in several publications.
