In the second half of February, Kai Art Center’s cinema will present a film program curated by Sirje Runge, created in dialogue with her solo exhibition “On Fragile Ground. Sirje Runge and Light.” The films will be screened over four evenings and form part of the exhibition’s public program.
“Roma” is legendary Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini’s love letter to the Eternal City — his hometown of Rome and its vibrant history. The film is poetic, episodic, and autobiographical; instead of telling a single story, it creates a mosaic of Rome, both past and present. “Roma” blends documentary elements, memories, and fantasy to portray the city as a living, chaotic, and timeless organism.
The film’s protagonist, Fellini himself, grows up in the Italian countryside and studies the eclectic history of ancient Rome at school before moving to the city as a young man on the eve of the Second World War. He experiences the city’s noise, crowds, theatre culture, and sexual freedom, and through satirical and memorable encounters begins to truly understand this extraordinary place. These scenes are filled with grotesque characters, a hazy atmosphere, and Fellini’s signature carnival-like exaggeration.
Parallel to this, we follow a 1970s film crew wandering through modern Rome, trying to capture the life of the city. They find themselves in traffic jams, cabarets, streets, and apartments. These scenes have a more documentary feel, yet under Fellini’s direction they too become theatrical and surreal.
Fellini’s “Roma” is not a story — it is an experience.
Each screening begins with a video introduction in which Sirje Runge explains the background of her film selection and offers viewers possible perspectives for experiencing the work. According to her, the films chosen for the programme form a unified whole together with the exhibition and reflect a small fragment of what she finds meaningful in the world.
Screenings can be attended with an exhibition ticket. A limited number of full program passes is also available. To experience Sirje Runge’s video introduction, please arrive before the screening begins.
The film selection is brought to audiences in collaboration with Sõprus Cinema, and the programme has been compiled by Sirje Runge together with Sõprus’s programme manager Johannes Lõhmus.
Program:
14.02 at 6pm — Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
15.02 at 6pm — Federico Fellini’s Roma (1972)
21.02 at 6pm — Carine Asscheri’s James Turrell: Passageways (1995) + Christoph Schaub’s Architecture of Infinity
22.02 at 6pm — Two episodes of National Geographic’s One Strange Rock (2018)
Genre: drama, comedy, surrealism
Duration: 2h
Country: Italy, 1972
Director: Frederico Fellini
Cast: Britta Barnes, Peter Gonzales Falcon, Fiona Florence
Language: Italian, German, English, French, Latin, Spanish
Subtitles: English
Kai Art Center • Peetri tänav 12, 10415 Tallinn, Harju maakond, Estonia
