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Bye, Lino
Lino Micciché, 1934 - 2004

Lino Micciche

The death, at almost seventy, of Lino Micciché means deep pain for all those who really knew him, and a severe loss for cinema culture.

In his life, as intense as it was productive, Lino did a lot of things and did them well. His activity as a film critic started when he was still a student: He was in his early twenties, and was the national coordinator of the 'Centri Universitari Cinematografici' (University Cinema Centers). It is while he occupied that function that I met him; a personal relationship developed between us, soon converted into a fraternal friendship as well as a constructive bond.

Right after, he also started to be active as a filmmaker, directing various documentaries of neorealist inspiration, and codirecting in 1962, together with Lino Del Fra and Cecilia Mangini, "All'armi siamo fascisti!", the most beautiful montage film of Italian cinema.

After abandoning the camera, he dedicated himself to film criticism and studies, and at the same time, according to the coherent conception he had of intellectual work, to the organization of cultural activities. For about thirty years he was in charge of the film column in the daily "L'Avanti!", that he left in 1989, the year he also quit the 'Partito Socialista Italiano' (Italian Socialist Party) for political disagreements. In 1965 he founded the Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema (International Festival of New Cinema) in Pesaro, which he directed until 1988, making of it, from the very first editions, a festival of international standard and a model for many other cultural initiatives.

Very active also in the field of cinema policies, he was the administrative advisor of 'Italnoleggio' from 1966 to 1968 and of the 'Ente Autonomo di Gestione per il Cinema' from 1971 to 1973. It is also in 1973 that he started to teach film history and criticism at the University of Trieste. He then taught at Siena University and before going to the University of Rome III.

During his career as a professor, he intensified his publication of books, starting in 1971 with "Morte a Venezia" by Luchino Visconti. In his very rich bibliography, you may find collections of essays, editions of collective books, and memorable studies of Visconti, Pasolini, neorealism, Italian cinema in the 60s and 70s: these vivid writings are now classics. The analysis of the specificities of each film is always combined with very accurate cultural, social and historical contexts: this leads to the formulation of argued judgements, in which autonomous and heterogeneous aspects of the films are critically investigated, explained in their peculiarities and in their interconnections.

His academic and critical activities, although considerable, did not prevent Micciché from occupying other positions of great cultural and social importance. In brief, it is enough to remember his presidency of the Biennale for a short period during which he transformed the Venetian institution from its old statute to the present one; and immediately after, from April 1998 and April 2002, his major and decisive role as president of the 'Scuola Nazionale di Cinema' (National Film School), in which he not only strengthened the traditional activities, but launched others, among them the project, still under construction, of a History of Italian Cinema in 15 volumes, of which the first four have already been published.

But I also would like to remember, in a very special way, another of the functions he assumed, as perfectly as ever, that of president of the 'Sindacato Nazionale Critici Cinematografici Italiani' (the National Italian Syndicate of Film Critics), which he doubled with that of president of FIPRESCI. His presidency, during the 80s and at the beginning of the 90s, gave our syndicate more visibility, more prestige, more strength towards the exterior. It has also, consequently, favored the birth of two initiatives that still define him today: the publication of the film magazine "Cinecritica", with the editorial line that is still vigorously active today, and the "Settimana Internazionale della Critica" (International Critics Week) in Venice, an event that immediately obtained an international consensus.

All this confirms, once more, that the many activities promoted by Micciché, equally with his cultural production, clearly identify him as a rare figure of intellect, in which the rigor of study and the political and ideological engagement are happily united. And all this, together with more personal and intimate reasons, increases my gratitude towards Lino and my regret at his passing.

Bruno Torri
Translated by Grégory Valens

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