Books, Palazzo Merulana evokes western cinema and presents ‘Once upon a time in Rome’

2023-06-22 17:01:12

Palazzo Merulana brings together the last glories of spaghetti western cinema this afternoon in Rome to recall the 60s on the occasion of the launch of “Once upon a time in Rome”, the new novel by Manuel de Teffé. The legendary director Enzo G. Castellari, who inspired Quentin Tarantino, and the actor Gianni Garko, the unforgettable “Sartana” of the time, are present at the preview. The novel “Once upon a time in Rome” presents an untold page of the Italian costume: the epic of the Dolce Vita overwhelmed by the revolution of western cinema, all inspired by the amazing adventures of the Roman actor Antonio de Teffé (father of author) and how, under the pseudonym Anthony Steffen, he became the protagonist of 27 films of the genre, among which we remember: Django the bastard, The gunslinger marked by God, 1000 dollars on black, A long line of crosses, A train for Durango, Shango the infallible gun, Sabata arrives.

Rome, 1965, in the midst of the Dolce Vita and the protests against the war in Vietnam. “Per un Fistful of Dollars” by Sergio Leone has a global success and launches an explosive genre: the Italian western. The world of cinema is in fibrillation, the public relations manager of the Hilton Hotel tries to convince her man to embrace the new trend. “Once upon a time in Rome” tells the story of an aristocratic Shakespearean theater actor, a Russian acting guru, a Jewish documentary filmmaker and an elderly breadsticks entrepreneur with one last big dream: to transform his secret manuscript into the film ” No dollars for Django.”

Manuel de Teffé, Roman, is a director and screenwriter, studied set design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and graduated in film directing at Angelo D’Alessandro’s MIF and began his career at the Eliseo Theater as assistant director to Rossella Falk and Michael Placido. de Teffé works as a television director for Morgan film and Lux ​​Vide, later founding Shineout, for which he will write and direct commercials, advertising campaigns, documentaries and music videos around the world. In recent years he has been artistic director for the French group Média-Participations and currently works in Paris with SAJE distribution and teaches “History of Cinema” at the Dbima film academy. “Once upon a time in Rome” is his first novel and the evening event at Palazzo Merulana is moderated by Rai journalist Giorgio Pacifici.