An iconic figure in contemporary cinema, Italian filmmaker and screenwriter Luca Guadagnino is renowned for his visually sumptuous and emotionally provocative movies. Born in Palermo in 1971, he’s been pushing the boundaries of storytelling and aesthetics for over two decades, exploring themes of LGBT identity, desire and alienation.
Guadagnino’s career soared to international prominence with 2017’s Call Me by Your Name, a sensual coming-of-age drama set against the backdrop of the sun-soaked Italian countryside. His distinct style, marked by richly textured environments and meticulous attention to detail, was further showcased in his mesmerizing remake of Dario Argento’s cult hit Suspiria, the HBO teen drama series We Are Who We Are, and the romantic horror flick Bones and All. He’s currently working on an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ controversial classic, Queer.
While promoting Suspiria in 2018, Guadagnino spoke with Another Mag on the writings that had a formative impact on not only the film, but his personal development:
“Sigmund Freud on the uncanny; historian Carlo Ginzburg on the history of the witches’ Sabbath; a 1977 interview with German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Il Dio delle donne (The God of Women) by philosopher Luisa Muraro, translated from the Italian; diarist Victor Klemperer’s notebook on the language of the Third Reich; and author Lea Vergine’s essay on performance artists including Gina Pane and Ana Mendieta – Suspiria is filled with references to many feminist artists. These writings were an important part of my personal upbringing. For me, they represent a source of study and work and inspiration, but I think they speak for themselves.”
Explore Guadagnino’s recommended reading below, and check out the bookshelves of other famed filmmakers here.
Luca Guadagnino’s Reading List
The Uncanny by Sigmund Freud
I Let the Audience Feel and Think – Rainer Werner Fassbinder interviewed by Norbert Sparrow
The Language of the Third Reich by Victor Klemperer
Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath by Carlo Ginzburg
The Body as Language: Body Art and Like Stories by Lea Vergine
Il Dio delle donne by Luisa Muraro
(via Another Mag; photo by Roger Askew)
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