One of the most original and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century, Italian polymath Pier Paolo Pasolini embodied a multitude of often seemingly contradictory ideologies and identities—and he expressed them all in his provocative, lyrical, and indelible films. Relentlessly concerned with society's downtrodden and marginalized, he elevated pimps, hustlers, sex workers, and vagabonds to the realm of saints, while depicting actual saints with a radical earthiness. Traversing the sacred and the profane, the ancient and the modern, the mythic and the personal, the nine uncompromising, often scandal-inciting features he made in the 1960s still stand—on this, the 101st anniversary of his birth—as a monument to his daring vision of cinema as a form of resistance.
NINE-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR'S SET FEATURES
Disc 1: Accatone (1:57:28)
- COMMENTARY: This commentary track, recorded for Eureka Entertainment in 2011, features critic and historian Tony Rayns.
- PASOLINI ON PASOLINI (29:05): In this program, produced by the Criterion Collection in 2023, actor Tilda Swinton and writer Rachel Kushner read from Pasolini's personal essays and journal entries, in which he reflects on the meaning of cinema in his life and his journey to becoming a maestro of the craft.
- CINÉASTES DE NOTRE TEMPS (1:37:37): This intimate portrait of Pasolini, dubbed "the enraged" in the program's subtitle, aired on French television on November 15, 1966, and was directed by Jean-André Fieschi. It features wide-ranging conversations with the director as well as interviews with the actors and collaborators who helped shape his cinematic universe over the course of the sixties.
- TRAILER (1:59)
Disc 2: Mamma Roma (1:47:05)
- LA RICOTTA (35:22): In 1962, the year in which Mamma Roma was released, Pasolini made La ricotta, about a director filming the Passion of Jesus, as part of the anthology film Ro.Go.Pa.G. The short was mired in controversy but marked an important turning point in Pasolini's thematic, political, and stylistic development.
- PIER PAOLO PASOLINI (58:03): This documentary, made by Ivo Barnabo Micheli in 1995-the twentieth anniversary of Pasolini's murder-examines the central ideas in the work of this legendary and controversial artist.
- BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI (6:30): Filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci began his career as a production assistant on Pasolini's first film, Accattone (1961). This interview was recorded in Italy in the fall of 2003.
- TONINO DELLI COLLI (9:00): Tonino Delli Colli worked as the director of photography on eleven of Pasolini's films. This interview was recorded in Italy in the fall of 2003.
- ENZO SICILIANO (9:17): Enzo Siciliano is the author of Pasolini: A Biography (1982). This interview was recorded in Italy in the fall of 2003.
- TRAILER (4:00)
Disc 3: Love Meetings (1:33:07)
- NOTES FOR A CRITOFILM (13:09): In this short documentary, made by Maurizio Ponzi in 1967, Pasolini offers a concise yet illuminating explanation of his cinematic grammar, drawing on his regular collaborator Ninetto Davoli and scenes from Love Meetings to illustrate examples of his larger artistic worldview.
- VARDA MEETS PASOLINI (4:12): Two icons of cinema link up on the streets of New York City in this portrait of Pasolini, shot by filmmaker Agnes Varda in 1967.
- TRAILER (4:31)
Disc 4: The Gospel According to Matthew (2:17:47)
- SCOUTING IN PALESTINE (54:05): In 1963, Pasolini traveled to Palestine to find locations for his upcoming film, The Gospel According to Matthew, with a newsreel photographer and a Catholic priest in tow. This documentary overlays Pasolini's sojourn from village to village with his improvised observations and commentary.
- OUTTAKES (3:18)
- TRAILER (5:07)
Disc 5: The Hawks and the Sparrows (1:29:37)
- AT THE CIRCUS (7:13): This deleted scene from The Hawks and the Sparrows features the film's lead actor Toto and includes the dialogue that Pasolini had planned to record for the scene.
- NINETTO THE MESSENGER (28:47): In this documentary, which was directed by Jean-André Fieschi and aired on French television in 1997, actor Ninetto Davoli discusses his collaboration with Pasolini, whom he met in the early 1960s.
- TRAILER (3:24)
Disc 6: Oedipus Rex (1:44:56)
- NOTES FOR A FILM ON INDIA (34:27): This documentary was shot on the occasion of Pasolini's trip to postindependence India to do research on a proposed film. It features his reflections on the country's economic and class-based hardships, as well as on its modernization and Westernization.
- THE SEQUENCE OF THE PAPER FLOWER (11:27): Pasolini directed this sketch featuring actor Ninetto Davoli as part of the 1969 anthology film Love and Anger, a compendium of modern-day cinematic reflections on the Gospels that also features the work of contemporaries such as Jean-Luc Godard, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Marco Bellocchio.
- TRAILER (3:34)
Disc 7: Teorema (1:38:43)
- COMMENTARY: This 2007 commentary features film scholar Robert S. C. Gordon, author of Pasolini: Forms of Subjectivity.
- PASOLINI INTRODUCTION (2:37): In this brief interview, first broadcast on February 8, 1969, Pasolini responds to questions from journalist Cécile Philippe about his film Teorema.
- TERENCE STAMP (33:13): In this 2007 interview with Terence Stamp, the actor discusses making Teorema.
- JOHN DAVID RHODES (16:41): In this interview, shot by the Criterion Collection in 2019, film scholar John David Rhodes, author of Stupendous, Miserable City: Pasolini's Rome, discusses Teorema.
Disc 8: Porcile (1:38:44)
- PASOLINI ON "PORCILE" (5:09): In this interview for the French television program Allez au cinéma, directed by Colette Thiriet and aired on October 13, 1969, Pasolini talks about making Porcile and casting Pierre Clémenti and Jean-Pierre Léaud as the film's lead actors.
- TRAILER (2:44)
Disc 9: Medea (1:51:22)
- ON-SET MEMORIES (29:36): This 2004 documentary on the making of Medea features rare behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with actors Laurent Terzieff and Giuseppe Gentile, cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri, production designer Dante Ferretti, costume designer Piero Tosi, and still photographer Mario Tursi.
- MARIA CALLAS (4:07): In this interview for the French television program Pour le cinéma, directed by Pierre Mignot and aired on October 28, 1969, actor and opera icon Maria Callas speaks from the set of Medea about her first on-screen performance and collaboration with Pasolini.
- TRAILER (2:46)
