“The following video essay takes a look at three studio films directed by the genius genre Joe Dante. While Dante’s early films emerged out of the energetic “get it done” approach of Roger Corman, his later experiences with studios were less than straightforward. The essay takes a look at the hybrid live-action animated feature Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), the sci-fi coming-of-age flick Explorers (1985), and the marvelously chaotic blank check that is Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). In the essay, each segment parallels the three parts of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, respectively). The result is a much more measured portrait of studio relations, from the hellish to the divine.” [. . .] –Meg Shields, Film School Rejects, August 13, 2021 (retrieved March 30, 2022)
“Dante in Jazz” (Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul)
“Nel 700° anniversario della morte di Dante Alighieri, siamo qui sul palco del teatro dell’Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul, con una lettura drammatica della Divina Commedia.
“L’attore Nuri Karadeniz declama in turco (sottotitoli in italiano) il Primo Canto dell’Inferno mentre il musicista Yiğit Özatalay eseguirà al piano sue composizioni jazz originali scritte per l’occasione.”
The performance is preceded by a short lecture (in Italian with Turkish subtitles) by Salvatore Schirmo, Director of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul, who highlights the influence of Dante and his works on contemporary Turkish literature and culture. The video premiered on YouTube on Dantedì (March 25) 2021.
“Ophidiophobia”: Eva Del Soldato and Marco Aresu on INF. 25 for “Canto Per Canto”
A conversation with Eva Del Soldato and Marco Aresu.
Watch or listen to the video of “Inferno 25: Ophidiophobia” here.
Canto per Canto: Conversations with Dante in Our Time is a collaborative initiative of the Department of Italian Studies and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU together with the Dante Society of America, conceived during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown in anticipation of the seventh centennial commemoration of Dante’s death in the year 2021. Members of the Dante Society recorded conversations with friends and colleagues on their favorite cantos, reflecting on what Dante has to say to us now, in our time. All 100 cantos of the Divine Comedy will be published at a rate of two cantos per week over the course of a year, starting in September 2020.
“Steal this Poem”: Dennis Looney and Arielle Saiber on Inf. 24 for “Canto per Canto”
As part of the Dante Society of America’s Canto per Canto series, Arielle Saiber (founder of Dante Today) speaks with Dennis Looney (author of, among other notable works, Freedom Readers: The African American Reception of Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy) on the 24th canto of Inferno, the first of two cantos on theft in the Malebolge.
Watch or listen to the video of “Inferno 24: Steal this Poem” here.
Canto per Canto: Conversations with Dante in Our Time is a collaborative initiative between New York University’s Department of Italian Studies and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, and the Dante Society of America. The aim is to produce podcast conversations about all 100 cantos of the Divine Comedy, to be completed within the seventh centenary of Dante’s death in 2021.
Cole Porter, “You’re The Top” (2009)
“you’re a rose/ you’re Inferno’s Dante/ you’re the nose/ on the great Durante” –Cole Porter, Youtube, 2009.
