Ninì Candalino Lecture: on BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
the Cinema Book Shop, Rome – 12 November 2008

During this event, Ninì Candalino studies the generational context of the film’s director Spike Jonze, who was launched onto the US media stage in the 90s. Unlike the iconoclasts of the 70s, some actors belonging to the new generation cross the cinema world, moving from the independent scene to the major companies, seeking and finding a balance between their own creative needs and those of the industry.

Linguistic experimentation and professional cooperation are Jonze’s strength. He focuses his attention on the “old” idea that cinema is an art with an industrial soul, one where collaboration and teamwork is indispensable. An eclectic writer, with a thorough knowledge of techniques and languages, Jonze changed roles within the business, moving from photography to making video clips, to shorts and full-length films for the cinema, sharing and feeding his creativity with those around him, in particular the cinematographer Lance Acord and the screenplay writer Charles Kaufman. From this perspective, Ninì Candalino analysed some examples of his work as a director of video clips, musicals, shorts and some sequences from his full-length films.

Ninì Candalino is a journalist and writer as well as curator of video and TV festivals, conventions and international events. She teaches the theory and techniques of mass communication at the University of Tor Vergata.