The body knows how to recognise eroticism, but how do you explain it in words? Even more difficult, how do you define erotic cinema? Is it arousal, defying limits, the forbidden, the suspended? It's not just sensuality, it's not merely sexual, it's not just desire: it's all that and more. It disturbs, challenges morals, customs and political correctness. It surprises and fascinates us.
Through a cycle of 20 films and a cine-concert, we revisit the concept of eroticism, with the aim of understanding its evolution and meaning in the history of cinema.
[Curated by Denis Ruzaev and Ines Lopez Branco]
Sessions
A Love Movie, Julio Bressane, 2003
Beauty of the Day, Luis Buñuel, 1967
Betty Blue, Jean-Jacques Beineix, 1986
Caligula – The Ultimate Cut, Tinto Brass, 2023
Crash, David Cronenberg, 1996 – Followed by a conversation with the director David Cronenberg
Ecstasy, Gustav Machaty, 1933
Ecstasy of the Angels, Kōji Wakamatsu, 1972
Je, Tu, Il, Elle, Chantal Akerman, 1974
Les Vampires, Louis Feuillade, 1915 (film-concert with Rodrigo Amado Unity)
Liza, Marco Ferreri, 1972
Looking for Langston, Isaac Julien, 1989
Story of O, Just Jaeckin, 1975
The Love Witch, Anna Biller, 2016
The Loveless, Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery, 1981
The Night of the Haunted, Jean Rollin, 1980
The Rose King, Werner Schroeter, 1986
The Scent of Blood, Mario Martone, 2004 – Followed by a conversation with the director Mario Martone
Theorem, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968
Touch Me Not, Adina Pintilie, 2018 – Followed by a conversation with the director Adina Pintilie