Notes for an African Orestes (1970) by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Sunday, February 8, 1987, 8:00 pm
Pasolini’s Notes for an African Orestes
In this 1970 feature documentary Pier Paolo Pasolini, under the pretext of filming ‘notes’ for a future film based on Aeschylus’ Orestes set in Africa, in fact presents a revealing view of contemporary Africa. Pasolini himself is very much in evidence throughout the film, conducting interviews and interacting with the people he meets. The story of Orestes actually provides Pasolini with what he sees as a parallel between that story and the history of the emerging African nations. This is one of the Italian director’s most personal and revealing films, yet it is generally overlooked and omitted from retrospectives of his work.