Roberto Pacini

Biography

He lives and works in Rome. In 1987, he attended the Bottega Teatrale di Firenze (Florentine Theatre School) directed by Vittorio Gassman. In 1993, he was awarded a degree in Drama and Performing Arts at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art, the most important Italian performing arts institute for theatre directors and actors.

Theatre

He made his debut as director in 1994 and since 1996 he has been a theatre playwright and director. The range of his performances belongs to the so-called Word Theatre; he developed its qualities creating drama compositions that already determine interpretation key and the work on the Text and on the Actors is essential.

In years, he carries out in his own working method and style, visionary and grotesque, and his research gives unusual reading of classic works (Anton Chekhov, Kafka, Pirandello, Shakespeare) and contemporary authors. Performances, usually located in spaces not appointed to theatre presentations, go beyond the realism dimension and they offer fantastic suggestions, irrational, with strong expressionistic tints. Original soundtracks – by musicians and bands – are always composed for every show.

Among the significant titles: La Locanda Hauser (Hauser Inn) (1995)[1], from Maupassant's tales, L'Ospedale dei Mentecatti (Hospital for the Insane People) (1996)[2], from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce, and The Night just before the Forests (2000) by Bernard-Marie Koltès, the first time on national stages in an unabridged edition. By Koltès, he also realized the first Italian version of Heritage (2002).

In 2003, he has been nominated Artistic Director of CTD theatre company of Rome and produced Classic Works (Aeschylus, Shakespeare, Herman Melville) and Italian and International New Writing Works. He has founded and directed Cadmo & Armonia theatre company (1994) and afterwards Il Teatro di Puck (Puck's Theatre) (1998)[3].

Cinema

Since 2001, he has been also a movie author and producer. In 35 mm and 16 mm production, he cooperated in Italian feature film productions and International co productions, as Producer, Executive Producer and Consulting Producer.

Personal projects (Dv, Betacam), produced by Cinepuck[4], are influenced by his theatrical origins and then they gain surreal and metaphysical dimension, even thanks to old format Super 8 experimentations. For instance, Mr Filipponi, the true story of a poet who misses his poems, and Balloon, a man lost in his thought (2010).

In 2010, he also produced and directed Dreams & Colors, visionary documentary about Piazza Navona in Rome, and Gaussian Copula Function[5] based on Felix Salmon's article published by Wired about the disaster of Wall Street (2008).

The Man Wearing a Hood (2012) is a tribute to Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone.

Late works

Among his late works as author and director, Sunlight (2006), institutional spot celebrating the 50th anniversary of Treaty of Rome (Prix Europa 2006, Berlin), Being Fed Up (2007), spot against discrimination to women for public service broadcasting, produced by Unesco (Paris), For Instance (2009), for the World Food Programme fighting hunger worldwide and The Empty Chair (2012), for the United Nations Population Fund, music by Moby.

Creative Commons

Licensed under the Creative Commons, he produced and directed The Briefcase (2011), about the World Financial crisis of 2007–2010, Animals/Man (2011), a new spot for Public Service Broadcasting, Time (2013) against Death Penalty worldwide, The Diary of an Assistant Bookkeeper (2012–2013), a mini-web series from the original tale by Anton Chekhov, music by Nine Inch Nails, and Shapes (2013) on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Bombing of Rome in World War II.

In 2015, direction of Exit an experimental video work presented as "The old and the new, on leaving", music by Chris Zabriskie, American artist he too inspired by Creative Commons and the open source movement.

Selected works