PRESS RELEASE The Italian Cultural Institute presents

a tribute to SERGIO LEONE (1929 – 1989) on the 20th anniversary of his death

Wednesday 6 May 2009 at 6,30pm

To mark the 20th anniversary of Sergio Leone’s death – and the 80th of his birth – Sir Christopher Frayling, his first ever biographer, talks about the Spaghetti Western phenomenon with Dario Argento, who, together with Bernardo Bertolucci, wrote the long treatment of Once Upon a Time in the West. On the same night, opening of an exhibition of the most iconic posters of Leone’s films, lovingly collected by Sir Christopher over the years and generously lent to the Institute on this occasion, followed by a concert by Paolo Castelluccia, who will highlight the most famous and unforgettable films scores.

Sergio Leone, the world-famous director of films such as A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America, is considered the creator of the genre of Spaghetti Westerns, which changed the face of the most venerable and characteristic style of American cinema. They represented an extraordinary and potent cross-fertilization of American and European cultures, creating their own superstar – Clint Eastwood – and revitalizing the careers of many western veterans such as Lee Van Cleef. “The term ‘Spaghetti Western’ was first coined by American critics of the Italian western, and was intended as a pejorative; back home in Italy, the films came to be known – rather defensively – as ‘Macaroni Westerns’. This started a craze among film journalists for applying culinary labels to unauthentic or alien Westerns (…). I prefer to use ‘Spaghetti Western’ in a descriptive sense (for movies made in Italy and Spain) and also as a term of endearment” (C. Frayling, Spaghetti Westerns, I.B. Tauris 2006).

Sir Christopher Frayling, former chairman of the Arts Council and Rector at the Royal College of Art since 1996, is the author of Sergio Leone: Once Upon a Time in the West: an authoritative, in-depth study of Leone and the Italian Western that includes interviews with Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Sergio Leone himself, Ennio Morricone, Bernardo Bertolucci and Claudia Cardinale, illustrated with a wealth of visual material, including production stills, lobby cards, pictorial source sketches, costume and set designs, and release posters from Italy, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Great Britain, France and the US.

Dario Argento is considered the father of the modern horror film genre: very early in his career he established the status of cult film phenomenon with his works, which were praised and condemned in equal measure: titles such as Deep Red – one of his most iconic – Suspiria , Inferno , The Mother of Tears, Tenebrae, Phenomena, Opera, Trauma, The Stendhal Syndrome and many more, which earned him the title of Master of the Macabre. He has also worked as a screenwriter: infact, his most notable work in this field was his screenwriting contribution to Sergio Leone’s classic Once Upon a Time in the West, that he co-wrote with Bernardo Bertolucci in the late 60s.

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