Elsa Morante’s “La Storia” (first two episodes)

The Italian Cultural Institute in New York
in collaboration with
FUIS (Italian Unitary Writers Federation) – THE BRIDGE Prize – NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò – CUNY Hunter College – CIMA (Center for Italian Modern Art) – RIZZOLI Bookstore

presents

Multipli Forti
Voices from Contemporary Italian Literature

ITALIAN LITERARY FICTION FESTIVAL – III EDITION

NEW YORK CITY
10-11-12 April, 2024

American Premiere Screening
La Storia
(Italy, 2024)
Episodes 1 and 2 (total 100 min.)
In ITALIAN with ENGLISH subtitles

An 8-episode series produced by
Rai Fiction and Picomedia

Directed by
Francesca Archibugi

Written by
Giulia Calenda

Based on the 1974 novel by
Elsa Morante (1912-1985)

Introduced by the director and screenwriter with a short talk by
Ann Goldstein, translator
Jenny McPhee, translator

In ENGLISH

The festival, promoted by the Italian Cultural Institute in New York directed by Fabio Finotti, and curated by Maria Ida Gaeta is an initiative to promote Italian literature aimed at the reading public and the international publishing world. It is a transatlantic window on major literary trends of Italian fiction, told by the authors who have written and are writing it.

The third edition in 2024 will feature: Francesca Archibugi, Annalena Benini, Matteo B. Bianchi, Giulia Calenda, Giulia Caminito, Giancarlo De Cataldo, Viola Di Grado, Alain Elkann, Emily Greenhouse, Isabella Hammad, Rea Hederman, Lorenza Honorati, Daniele Mencarelli, Andrea Molesini, Carmen Pellegrino, Saif Raja, Loretta Santini per Ada D’Adamo, Nadeesha Uyangoda, Alice Urciolo, Marina Valensise, Massimo Vallerani, Carlo Vecce.

We asked the guest authors – in conversation with each other and with American scholars, translators, editors and specialists – to reflect on six major themes of current literature. Each Multipli Forti event, at various places and times over the three days, will open with unpublished texts they have written as a response to these themes: (1) individual and collective destinies; (2) “Italianness”; (3) the encounter with reality; (4) myth; (5) bodies and power; (6) Genius loci.

In addition to these six topics of discussion, this third edition will also deal with an issue that is at the core of our contemporary literature, namely the interaction and interweaving of fiction with audiovisual languages. This will be the focus of the panel at Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò. After discussing the complex relationships between literary works on the one hand, and audiovisual, film and television works on the other, we will have one other special event of this edition: The American premiere of the first two episodes of the television series on “La Storia” by Elsa Morante with English subtitles (Rai Fiction and Picomedia). The screening will be introduced by director Francesca Archibugi and screenwriter Giulia Calenda. The American translators of Elsa Morante’s books, Jenny McPhee and Ann Goldstein, and the American publisher who will republish “La Storia” will also be present.

Trailer: