"Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter"
Next November 25, Chili and Amazon Prime Video will release the English, Italian, and Japanese docufilm “Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter” in the US and the UK. The launch falls on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a global event established by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
“Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter” is a docu-movie directed and produced by Jordan River with Delta Star Pictures who also will distribute the title. The film features actress Angela Curri (“Braccialetti rossi 3”; “La mafia uccide solo d’estate 2”; “Raffaello, il principe delle arti”) playing the role of Artemisia.
"I strongly wanted to make this movie so that I could show the inner world of an artist and, in this case, a woman", says the director. "In most art documentaries, the spiritual dimension is almost absent. I think when mature painters work on their masterpieces, they don’t simply put some colors together to decorate the rooms of the lords, but first and foremost to convey an inner vision of human existence. My intention in deliberately making this documentary somewhat academic (thus giving all audiences the means to comprehend it and making it accessible to everyone) was to travel through the whole life of the artist, without sticking to a merely biographical account. I believe that Artemisia’s life and work let us dive into the emotional power of the arts and make us understand what can be found in the heart and mind of an artist who was at times oppressed by the everyday hurdles that sometimes life holds for us," he completed.
Filmed in ultra-high definition with passion and historical rigor (the film shows part of the correspondence with collectors and personalities of the time, including Galileo Galilei, with whom Artemisia became friends), the biographical tale of the famed 17th century painter offers an oneiric journey through her masterpieces, exhibited at the most important museum all over the world (including the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Columbus Museum of Art in the U.S., the Palacio Real de Madrid, the StiftungPreußischeSchlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, and Galleria Spada in Rome) as well as in private collections, such as ‘Aurora’ (ca. 1627), shown for the first time in 4K, and ‘David and Goliath’ (1639), recently discovered in London thanks to famed British art conservator Simon Gillespie.
Gillespie gave an exclusive interview in this film, in which he explains how David’s sword, after an accurate work of restoration, revealed the identity of the author, aka Artemisia. Next to his commentary, the documentary features interviews with Alessandra Masu (Art historian, specialized in the Renaissance and Italian Baroque) and Adriana Capriotti (Modern art historian and director of Galleria Spada, MiBACT).
The film has already premiered at some of the most important international film festivals (Best Documentary at XXIV Terra di Siena International Film Festival 2020, Best Feature Docudrama at Global Nonviolent Film Festival 2020, USA; finalist at Los Angeles Cinematography Awards, USA; Official Selection at International Documentary Festival | Visioni dal Mondo 2020, Italy); and is a candidate to win the David di Donatello2021.
“Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter” was also scheduled to be released in theaters, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be distributed directly in Italy and other 15+ countries (including the U.S., the U.K, Germany, and Japan) on Chili and Amazon Prime Video, on the symbolic date of November 25, in order to celebrate the global event established by the General Assembly of the United Nations.