Just over a year after the death of one of the most iconic étoiles of the 20th century, dance and art enthusiasts will have the chance to watch the biopic ‘Carla’ tonight at 8 p.m. at the Kinoteka (1, Uzun Mirkova Street), dedicated to Carla Fracci, an extraordinary woman and artist who was and remains a source of inspiration for young people all over the world.
Of humble origins, the proud daughter of a tram driver and a factory worker, Carla Fracci came to become a world dance star only thanks to her extraordinary strength of will, which enhanced her pure talent. The story of the great dancer’s life is also a representation of Italy that emerged from the ruins of war with the awareness that commitment, study, application and appreciation of individual talents and the great national artistic tradition were the basis for economic success and social advancement in the decades to come.
This is how Carla Fracci became, together with her mentor Margot Fonteyn, the reference point for generations of dancers worldwide, not only in a technical sense and her mythological performances but even more so for her character and her rigour demonstrated even off stage.
The film “Carla”, produced by Rai Cinema and Anele and directed by Emanuele Imbucci, tells the story of the years in which the great ballerina’s myth developed: from her meeting with Luchino Visconti to the historic Nutcracker with Nureyev, the years in which her life-long relationship with her husband Beppe Menegatti was born and consolidated.
Imbucci will attend the film’s screening at Kinoteka, together with Aja Jung, director of the Belgrade Dance Festival (BDF), who recalls how the Fracci myth is still strong in Serbia and Belgrade, following Carla Fracci’s guest appearance at the 2015 Belgrade Dance Festival in 2015. During Fracci’s stay in Belgrade, Aja Jung took her to the Fracci café on Strahinjica Bana Street, and the great dancer was almost moved to discover that her legendary presence was very pronounced in a country where she had never performed.
The event will begin at 6.30 p.m. with the presentation of the Serbian translation of the etoile’s biography ‘Passo dopo passo’ (“Step by Step” or “Korak po Korak”, in Serbian), in the presence of Francesca Pedroni, the ballet critic, and Enrico Rotelli, the book’s co-author.
“This will be an evening during which we will celebrate not only a great artist, but all the values needed to reach the heights of artistic experience so that art and culture increasingly become a platform for cooperation and mutual understanding between Serbia, Italy and Europe,” said the Italian Ambassador to Serbia, Luca Gori.
This post is also available in: Italiano