One of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy was begun in the year 1308 and completed in 1320, a year before his death. This year marks the 700th anniversary of Dante’s passing. His poetic vision of the afterlife was a journey into the depths of Hell, through the tenuous passage of Purgatory, and on to the celestial glory of Paradise.
Dante called his three-part poem the Commedia because the work begins in misery and ends in happiness. The complete Commedia is a crystallization of classical philosophy and Christian theology, the recognition of sin and the virtue of penitence, the experience of exile and longing, and ultimately self-discovery and salvation.
The Dante Project visualizes each of the books as three experimental films. The Inferno is being shot in the evening hours and lonely corners of Brooklyn. Purgatorio is set during winter storms on the Staten Island Ferry. And Paradiso is being realized with footage from gardens in Rio de Janeiro.
Each film is an imaginative aural and visual landscape complimenting Dante’s Cantos, which are designed into each film and spoken. As a personal interpretation of each book, specific Cantos have been chosen to raise certain moral and ethical questions for our own time and to evoke the spiritual passage of Dante’s great poem.
Before the Close of Day has opened and is currently under submission for more film festivals, please see the trailer and the dedicated site for this film by clicking on the image. Among the Lost and In Paradisum are currently in production.
Three Films by Peter Lucas
Motion Graphics: Gary Waller, Sound Design: Ben Kruse
Running time for each film: 75 minutes
Inquires: peterlucasnet@gmail.com
