David B., one of the most important contemporary French cartoonists and founder of the publishing house L’Association, will fill the exhibition spaces in the foyer of the Cinema Modernissimo with original illustrations from his new book, Signor Civetta, which is being released in Italy by Sigaretten simultaneously with its French release.

Signor Civetta is a poetic and daring adventure, a journey into David B.'s fantastical and unsettling universe, which begins with the encounter, one Parisian night, of two singular characters: Marie, a young woman terrified by her own shadow, which takes the form of a tiger; while Signor Civetta is the psychopomp, part human, part animal, who offers to rid the girl of her fears by accompanying her to the Land of the Dead.

In this strange and overcrowded Afterlife, everything that has ceased to live accumulates: not just people, but abandoned buildings, cars destined for the junkyard, broken and discarded objects, forgotten deities and creatures, the rain and winds of the day before… A world as terrible as it is wonderful, in which Marie must navigate and try to stay alive without being discovered by Cerberus, the ferocious three-headed guard dog who wants to devour her.

With this work, on which he has worked on and off for over thirty years, David B. has created a veritable feast of the imagination. A graphic novel that, with its incisive and captivating style, creates an entire visual mythology, draws upon diverse cultures and traditions, while simultaneously recounting and transfiguring the emotional adventure of the young protagonist as she grapples with her fears and the traumas of existence, accompanying her to the Land of the Dead.


CARTE BLANCHE FOR DAVID B.
To mark the occasion of Cinema Modernissimo’s exhibition of the panels from his latest book, David B. has selected the films that have most influenced his imagination. The Carte Blanche for David B. series opens on November 17th at 4:30 p.m. with André Delvaux's One Night... A Train  and continues with Jean-Pierre Melville's The Strange Ones (November 28th, 4 p.m,) and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist (November 29th, 8 p.m.).



MORE EVENTS

Thurs., Nov. 20th, 5 p.m. | Salaborsa Library - Enzo Biagi Auditorium
Nicole Claveloux's Contemporaneity: Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Childhood with David B., Laura Pugno, and Emilio Varrà.

Sun., Nov. 23rd, 3 p.m. | DAS
The author will discuss his work in a conversation with Emanuele Dattilo, moderated by Alessio Trabacchini.