Ferdinando Scianna Makes an Exceptional Appearance in Venice for “The Photographer of Shadow”
Carrying within him the memory of a century etched in black and white, eighty-year-old Ferdinando Scianna arrived at the Lido to present “The Photographer of Shadow”. Directed by Roberto Andò, the documentary portrays a man he loves to define as a “life eater.” The film features his Bagheria roots, his travels with Leonardo Sciascia, portraits of Borges and Cartier-Bresson, Sicilian models, squares and funerals, and his eternal wrestling with light.
Scianna’s presence at the Lido disrupted the usual codes of Venetian glamour: with a slightly slower step but eyes still razor-sharp, he seemed to be observing rather than letting himself be observed, as if the red carpet itself were another set, yet another scene to capture. As if to underline, once more, that for him, beyond applause and spotlights, photography remains a radical idea: a way of being in the world, of questioning it, of never ceasing to seek images that carry meaning.
Text: Germano D’Acquisto
Photos: Ludovica Arcero
