A DOCUMENTARY BY PAPPI CORSICATO ON THE TORINESE PAINTER-ADVERTISER.
Fifty minutes of music and images to tell the life story of Armando Testa, the most important adman in Italy whose passion for painting also showed great sensitivity and intensity.
'Povero ma moderno' (Poor but modern) is the title of the documentary (subtitled in English) by Pappi Corsicato which was presented at the 66th International Film Festival in Venice in the section called ‘Orizzonti’ (Horizons) on 5th September 2009. On that occasion the documentary won the “Premio Pasinetti”, one of the oldest and most prestigious recognitions reserved for the best film and the best actors, which is awarded by cinema journalists during the International Film Festival. Produced by Baires and Little Bull and distributed by Rai Trade, the documentary also received support form the Piemonte Doc Film Fund with an additional contribution form the Film Commission Torino Piemonte.
The images were shot in Turin and they tell the life story of an adman who was ahead of his time and who had dazzling intuition and who, at the same time, was an esteemed creator of contemporary art.
The images used by Corsicato for the documentary were selected from Teche Rai, from the archives of Mrs. Gemma De Angelis Testa and from Armando Testa spa. The commercials which marked an era, the interviews with Armando Testa, his painting and the women from advertising are all mixed with the creative avant-garde which started in the fifties. Pappi Corsicato recreates the world of Testa in fifty minutes of restored interviews, newly shot images, and snippets of commercials which trace the history of advertising in Italy: from Lavazza’s Caballero and Carmencita to Olio Sasso, from Birra Peroni with Solvi Stubing to Papalla, and Pippo, the hippo, specially created for Lines diapers.
The principal image featured in 'Povero ma moderno' is the work of photographer Ferdinando Cioffi.
