On September 23, the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris inaugurated the exhibition “Domenico Notarangelo: Pasolini in Matera”, which can be visited until November 2, followed by the screening of the film “The Gospel According to Matthew”. Participation in the event confirms the French public’s interest in Pier Paolo Pasolini.
This exhibition makes visitors immerse themselves in Pasolini’s world through thirty-five rare photographs by Domenico Notarangelo, which document the filming of “The Gospel According to Matthew” in Matera in 1964. This film, a masterpiece of the 20th century, finds an intimate and poignant dimension in Notarangelo’s photographs, which reveal the behind-the-scenes of the creative magic of a filming that has become legendary.
Notarangelo’s photographs are more than just images: they are a living and detailed record of the inside of the filming process. Thanks to ingenious expedients, Notarangelo managed to capture moments of rare intensity on the set, making this reportage absolutely unique. Furthermore, Pasolini established a personal collaboration with the photographer, entrusting him with the task of recruiting about fifty people from Matera to play the scribes and Pharisees who were supposed to act in his film. This anecdote, which Notarangelo recounts with “photographic” precision, reflects the director’s meticulous choice of authentic faces, bearers of the history and land of Italy that Notarangelo’s shots capture by sculpting them on film.
The exhibition is not limited to Notarangelo’s photographs. Echoing this photographic testimony, it also highlights the works of three other contemporary artists: Silvio Cadelo, Valentina Mir and Giuseppe Palumbo, offering a contemporary perspective on Pasolini’s visual and cultural legacy in Matera.
After the inauguration of the exhibition, the public attended the screening of “The Gospel According to Matthew”, a masterpiece by Pasolini that finds a particular resonance through Notarangelo’s lens.
The inauguration was attended by a guest of honor: Rossana Di Rocco, the actress who at a young age played the angel in the film “The Gospel According to Matthew”. She recounted her experience on the set with Pasolini in a Matera chosen by the director for its timeless charm. Giuseppe Notarangelo, curator of the exhibition and son of the photographer, accompanied by Ines Silvia Nenna (Associazione Pasolini) and Roberto Chiesi, film critic and Head of the Centro Studi – Archivio Pier Paolo Pasolini of the Fondazione Cinémathèque in Bologna, shed light on the importance of that visual corpus in the history of cinema and photography. Silvio Cadelo and Valentina Mir illustrated their works in the exhibition.
