Paolo Gioli: The Complete Filmworks

The work of Paolo Gioli, a septuagenarian Italian experimental filmmaker, is in some respects comparable to that of Stan Brakhage and Bill Morrison in its use of distressed footage, montages of archival clips, artwork, animated images, and splashes of moving patterns across the screen. But his work is also different enough to present a distinctive voice, and this collection offers an excellent introduction, compiling all 38 of Gioli's films (varying from three to 42 minutes in length) dating from 1969 to 2013. The films are divided into nine categories representing different techniques—one grouping includes three hand-painted animated films, another consists of compilations of found footage, a third utilizes stroboscopic technology, and so forth. Extras include Patrick A. Rumble's Film Liberi in Libertà, which is essentially a long monologue by Gioli with illustrative film clips; Paolo Vampa and Giovanni Cappello's Rosso di Landi, in which Gioli replicates experiments from Polaroid founder Edwin Land that formed the basis of his theories on color vision; and a lavishly illustrated booklet. Recommended. (F. Swietek)