Film screening and viewing accompaniment curated by Antonella Cirigliano
Mahabharata, an epic poem written in eighteen books, is one of the most important texts of Hindu culture. In Sanskrit, it literally means "the great story of humanity" and revolves around the saga of two ruling families, the Pandava princes and their terrible cousins, the Kauravas, who fight for power. Peter Brook had already brought the work to the stage before creating this extraordinary film version in 1989. The events are numerous and rich in characters. All scenes were entirely shot in-studio, indoors, thus managing to combine great theatre with cinema. The work also features actors from sixteen countries around the world, including Vittorio Mezzogiorno in the role of Arjuna and Mallika Sarabhai, an Indian actress and dancer, in the role of Draupadi.
