Italian Movie Posters Reel In Local Art Scene

The success of great Italian classical movies from the 30's is kept alive today in the form of one large picture.

Running until March 26, the Italian Cultural Institute along with the Italian Embassy is showcasing promotional movie posters -- classic relics of Italian cinematic history.

Some of the greats like Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni and Alberto Sordi are immortalized in the posters that once advertised their films.

The Paper Dreams exhibit includes a collection of almost 100 movie posters, interesting graphic materials and other historical documents related to Italian cinema.

The exhibition illustrates both the history of Italian cinema, the history of Italian society and the evolution of graphic language from the mid 1930s to the 1990s.

Movie posters are a peculiar and distinctive form of art because of their overt promotional aim and broad reach to millions of people around the world.

Thus they have to use very simple and direct language, and simultaneously tap into the public's deepest fantasies and emotions.

Throughout the decades, movie poster art has both followed the art and graphic trends of the time and contributed to creating new styles that have molded visual communication.

Before coming to Seoul, Paper Dreams was exhibited in Brussels and several other world capitals.

The exhibition takes place at the Korean Film Archive before being moving to Tokyo in April.

During the exhibition period eight Italian classic movies will also be screened at the KOFA Cinema: "Siuscia" by Vittorio De Sica, "Viaggio in Italia" by Roberto Rossellini, "Rocco e i suoi fratelli" by Luchino Visconti, "Edipo Re" by Pier Paolo Pasolini, "Il conformista" by Bernardo Bertolucci, "Indentificazione di una donna" by Michelangelo Antonioni, "Cinema Paradiso" by Giuseppe Tornatore and "Il te' nel deserto" by Bernardo Bertolucci.

March 14, 2010