Anderson connections are everywhere!

The Mole Antonelliana, Turin, Italy
© Riviera Scritch/Matteo Caldon, Flickr

Like with so many things - when you start looking you can see connections everywhere. I was recently watching a lovely film After Midnight (thanks for the recommendation John) and, after a few hours of blissful escape into the world of the National Museum of Cinema in the Mole Antonelliana in Turin, the credits roled and the name of the writer/director/producer came up - Davide Ferrario. It took a minute for the name to register then I quickly hit rewind for a double check - yes, I was right, Davide Ferrario. The name is very familiar to me because I had recently catalogued a file of correspondence between Lindsay Anderson and Davide Ferrario. The correspondence is from 1982 to 1994 and After Midnight was made 10 years after this so there is nothing about the film in it. However there is a letter from Ferrario to Anderson (17/06/1984) where he is excited to tell Anderson that he has been asked to write his first screenplay. In the next letter (23/10/1984) Ferrario describes the experience of shooting the film

"as much as I hated the confusion, certain relationships, and basic crazyness of filmmaking I also got spelled by them. I hope you won't laugh if I confess I want to write another picture..."
Well, I'm very glad he did, going by the experience of watching After Midnight. It's great to be able to read about the progress of his career as a film director, actor and scriptwriter through his correspondence with Lindsay Anderson - what a great way to spend my working day!

Box files from the Lindsay Anderson Collection, in temporary storage facilities © Lindsay Anderson Collection

I haven't written anything about the content of the film but I found this review on the Bright Lights Film Journal which I thought was particularly good.