Sept. 11 – Somewhere between the sensuality of ” Last Tango in Paris.” the epic behing “1900” and the mysticism of “Little Buddha,” Bernardo Bertolucci established his filmography style, which will be homaged from tomorrow until October 13 at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. A documentary – the only one made by the director in his entire career – retraces the oil journey: when Enrico Mattei chose film as the means to communicate ENI’s image, he trusted the young Bertolucci with an unusual subject. The story follows the oil journey from the Zagros Mountains in Iran to Europe. The result of this bet was the three-part documentary “La Via del Petrolio” (1967). The relationship between ENI and the director continued when the group became the main partner of the Bertolucci retrospective at the Cinémathèque française. On 16 September, during a preview of the film “Io e Te,” the Cinémathèque will also be screening the short film “The Channel,” which brings together the previously unreleased footage of the Suez Canal, shot in 1966, and brings back to life the narrative and the beautiful photography and musical score by Egisto Macchi. The director described the life of the Suez population and the coexistence of ancient local traditions with progress, represented by the passage of large tankers through the famous canal. The retrospective will also include photos and some Federico Patellani shots from the historical ENI Archive dating back to the late 50’s. These were taken during the exploration and drilling phases in places explored by Bertolucci in the documentary. The relationship between ENI and culture, explains the group in a note, is not random: “the support of culture has always been a distinguishing feature of Eni’s that chose in 2006 the motto ‘culture of energy, energy of culture’ to effectively describe its commitment to the promotion of artistic and cultural events in the countries in which it operates. This initiative plays a significant role for its ties with Paris and France, which represents an important gas business area in which Eni is present in the retail market.”
