Rai 5 premieres the documentary on Crepax and his Valentina, Silver Ribbon 2020, on Rai 5.

On Friday, Jan. 29, 2021 at 9:15 p.m., on Rai 5, the container Art Night (the program Silvia De Felice, Massimo Favia and Marta Santella with the direction of Andrea Montemaggiori). will talk about comics, with two documentaries: Cercando Valentina - Il mondo di Guido Crepax ( premiere), focused on one of the greatest Italian comic book artists, Guido Crepax, and Le circostanze. The Drawn Novels of Vittorio Giardino, dedicated to the figure of Vittorio Giardino, a master of contemporary art comics.

Seeking Valentina - The World of Guido Crepax by Giancarlo Soldi, winner of the 2020 Silver Ribbon in the Docufiction category, is produced by Stefania Casini for Bizef Produzione with Rai and in collaboration with RSI-Swiss Broadcasting. The narrative starts at the end of the 1960s: Paris, London, Milan experience a creative ferment, pulsating at the same pace, stars of the same cultural constellation, rebelling, renewing themselves. Guido Crepax intercepts all the novelties of a Milan in turmoil, of the revolution that is also aesthetic, and transposes them into his comic strip, where art, music, design, cinema and fashion are contaminated, breaking and innovating the patterns of the narrative. Valentina is her alter ego: the dreamy photographer becomes an icon beloved by multiple generations. Elegant and sophisticated erotic dream for men and a symbol of independence, charm and seduction for women. Seeking Valentina is a journey in search of Valentina and her creator, where the past blends with the present, the narrative is syncopated and at times rarefied as in Crepax’s plates. The world of comics comes to life, and Philip Rembrandt, who in Valentina’s stories is the lover, leaves the drawing to become the real presence that leads us in search of all those who loved, understood, and collected her.

To follow, as mentioned, a portrait of Vittorio Giardino with Lorenzo Ciofi’s documentary The Circumstances. The drawn novels of Vittorio Giardino, a Ladoc production. Thanks to exclusive access to Giardino’s work, the documentary brings to the screen for the first time the original plates of his comic books, whose texts were adapted by the author specifically for the film. Vittorio Giardino’s art is traced through his 30 years of production immersed in the history of the 20th century, starting from a here and now: the artist’s work on the plates that will make up his final work. From his studio in the hills of Bologna, where he lives and works, Vittorio Giardino recounts the adventures of two of the protagonists of his stories, Max Fridman and Jonas Fink. The former is a spy who traverses Europe in the 1930s and 1940s up to the outbreak of World War II, and especially the Spanish War, untangling himself among espionage, love ties and friendship debts. Jonas Fink, on the other hand, is a young Jew in Soviet Czechoslovakia who experiences childhood and adolescence behind the Iron Curtain, until he becomes an adult at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

From Giardino’s studio burst images from the historical archives, recounting events such as the Spanish Civil War or the Prague Spring: from the repertoire, the images arrive on the original drawn plates, brought to life on screen. The dialogues, specially adapted for the film by Giardino himself, are played by actors and soundtracked, and the fictional characters enter, thus, into the story. The film then follows Giardino’s journey to rediscover the places and times that formed the framework and settings of his stories: from Barcelona once the scene of the Civil War to a Prague that has now forgotten the Wall, making its base in Bologna, the author’s hometown. Flanked by history and comics experts, interviewed in sets that recall the settings of Giardino’s books, we also delve into key aspects of his work: the clear line, plot construction, method, historiographical documentation, and iconographic rigor. Directed Lorenzo Cioffi, written by Lorenzo Cioffi and Vittorio Giardino. Director of photography Roberto Beani.

Rai 5 premieres the documentary on Crepax and his Valentina, Silver Ribbon 2020, on Rai 5.

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