At Rome's Quattro Fontane cinema, a photo exhibition tells the story of the Harlem neighborhood

From June 28 to July 28, 2023, Lucky Red presents the exhibition Harlem, a Magic Theatre by director and photographer Stefano Lodovichi at the Quattro Fontane cinema in Rome, on the occasion of the June 29 release in Italian theaters of the film A Thousand and One by A.V. Rockwell. The exhibition, with free admission, is curated by Mattia Morandi and Umberto Pastore and organized by Creation Culture. The curators have selected twenty-four works for the exhibition that are intended to offer the public the opportunity to live alongside the screening of A Thousand and One, a sort of extension of the film, in order to relive the atmospheres and sets depicted in the film, and to deepen the understanding of the Harlem neighborhood, so strongly anchored in the common imagination but at the same time constantly evolving.

The opening night of the exhibition will be held on Wednesday, June 28, and will be attended by director A.V. Rockwell and singer Teyana Taylor, the film’s lead actress. The film A Thousand and One, directed by U.S. director A.V. Rockwell, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2023, where it won the Grand Jury Prize as a Dramatic Film, and in fact stars singer Teyana Taylor. In Italy, the film will be presented at the 69th Taormina Film Festival and will be released in theaters from June 29 distributed by Lucky Red and Universal Pictures International Italy.

Teyana Taylor plays the role of a mother determined to ensure a future for her son.Through the stories of the two main characters, the film also follows the evolution of New York City over the past 30 years, telling an ode to the power of family, the only lifeline in a changing world that disregards the lives of the least of these.

With the exhibition Harlem, a Magic Theatre, author Stefano Lodovichi aims to interpret with an authentic gaze one of New York’s most iconic neighborhoods, among the main settings of A Thousand and One. The shots, a diary by images of an itinerant journey, return fragments of urban spaces and humanity through a visually clean and linear technique. Lodovichi succeeds in conveying the unique atmosphere of Harlem by creating a kind of visual portrait of the neighborhood.

In this selection of photos, the essence of Harlem is revealed in its magnificence, transporting the audience to the multiple stories of the present through details and continuous references. The guiding image of the exhibition could only be the one that gives it its title: Harlem, A Magic Theatre. In the image, the photographer demonstrates his skill in capturing the light filtering through the stained glass windows, creating a symbolic atmosphere that speaks metaphorically to us of human theater, where people’s stories and lives unfold as if in a cinematic performance.

The iconic people and places of the New York neighborhood emerge in two different approaches that converge. On the one hand, the street photographer ’s perspective captures faces and moments of humanity with powerful and immediate shots; on the other, the documentary filmmaker ’s eye shows the present without interfering with reality. Lodovichi’s photos portray architectural perspectives, urban glimpses and the soul of people, creating a unique visual portrait of Harlem.

“It is not easy, as a filmmaker, to reinterpret such an intimate film with such a strong identity,” said Lodovichi himself. “A story as universal as it is far from my imagination. As a non-American, as a non-New Yorker, as a non-Harlem resident. As a white man. But cinema, its language and its codes, are universal.”

At Rome's Quattro Fontane cinema, a photo exhibition tells the story of the Harlem neighborhood

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