Front Room Film: Scuola senza fine (School without End), Adriana Monti
Online
6.30 – 6.30pm
This is the first film title chosen from Cinenova feminist film and video distributor and was screened online as part of COMMUNAL, Thursday 16 April 2020, 6.30pm.
You can download materials to accompany the film here:
Introduction by Cinenova – [ audio version here ]
Adriana Monti, extract from Off Screen: Women & Film in Italy, 1988
Scuola Senza Fine: Betsy Dadd in conversation with Polly Wright
To find out more about booking and previewing titles from the Cinenova collection click here.
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Scuola Senze Fine (School Without End) was directed by Adriana Monti in collaboration with students from the adult education150 Hour Secondary School diploma course with whom she had been working for a year.
The 150 Hours Courses were an educational experiment implemented in Italy beginning in 1974, available to factory workers and farmers initially, and expanding to include women a couple of years later. The courses were non-vocational; they were not intended to improve one’s productivity at work, but rather to allow for personal and collective growth. The courses sought to help workers reflect not only upon their working conditions but also on their lives.
The film shows how the experiment extended into the lives of women taking the course, most of whom were housewives. The film was produced in collaboration with these students as part of their studies for the class, turning the curriculum’s questions about the representation of women into questions about the representation of themselves. After the group of former housewives had completed their 150-hour secondary school diploma course in 1976 they did not want to stop learning. With the help of their teacher, they formed a study and research group. Monti shot the film about them from 1979–1981, with the first half of it being made collectively by the group.
Film in 16 mm, black and white (negative) with optical sound
Length: 40 minutes
Production: Adriana Monti and ‘150 Hours’ course teachers
Photography (Amalia: kitchen and theatre) and editing assistance: Angelo Cordini
Conceived and directed by Adriana Monti
Made with the collaboration of: Lea Melandri, Amalia Molinelli, Ada Flaminio, Antonia Daddato, Teresa Paset, Rina Aprile, Micci Toniolo, Paola Mattioli, Maria Martinotti.
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