Tuesday 24 March, 6.30pm
A Santanotte
Screening of the silent film by Elvira Notari, with live musical accompaniment by Silvia Cignoli
Maria Elvira Giuseppa Coda, known as “Elvira Notari” (Salerno, February 10, 1875 – Cava de’ Tirreni, December 17, 1946), was the first Italian female film director. Her work is considered a forerunner of Neorealism. Of her many productions between 1906 and 1929 — 60 feature films and hundreds of short films and documentaries — very few have survived time, censorship, and an era in which the artistic value of women’s cultural work was not recognized. Among these is ‘A Santanotte. The film is inspired by the popular song of the same name by Francesco Buongiovanni and Eduardo Scala (1920).
Sweet little Nanninella, a waitress in a café, supports her father Giuseppone with her wages — a drunkard who mistreats her and takes advantage of her kindness. Courted by Tore, the girl would like to become engaged to him, but her father prefers to promise her in marriage to Carluccio, who convinces him by saying that if he accepts him as son-in-law, he will buy him drinks forever. Instigated by Carluccio, Giuseppone has an argument with Tore, during which he falls into a ravine and dies. Tore is accused of the murder by Carluccio and is arrested…
Also on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Elvira Notari’s birth, ICI London supports the upcoming UK and Ireland screening series of the feature documentary Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence, (Parallelo 41 Produzioni, Awen Films, and Luce Cinecittà) which premiered at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival and is currently a finalist for the Nastro d’Argento for best Italian documentary and shortlisted for the David di Donatello. Screenings will feature in-person conversations with director Valerio Ciriaci, producer Antonella Di Nocera, and special guests. Further details will be published soon.
Under the patronage of the Comitato Nazionale per le celebrazioni del 150°anniversario dalla nascita di Elvira Coda Notari 
Book your place HERE
Silvia Cignoli. Classical and electric guitarist, versatile musician, she ranges from classical to contemporary music, from radical improvisation to avant-rock and her own musical creation — a crossover between her academic background as a classical musician and electronic music. In her authored works, a refined timbral research on augmented guitar, keyboards, electronics, signal processors, and sound objects comes together to create contemplative atmospheres, a kind of emotional post-impressionism. Winner of the Fellegara Prize 2024, her playing style “strikes for the depth of concentration, the splendid versatility” (Percorsi Musicali) and “enchants, changing perspectives on the world” (Il Teatrante). She has released several albums under her own name (The Wharmerall, Digital Memories from a Suspended Word, Shimmering Behaviour (as IN/ELEKTRA)) and her latest, Allegory of Earth and Water, released on ROHS!, has been described as: “talented” (Rumore), “powerful and eloquent, deeply oneiric and metaphysical” (Le Courrier CH), “an electric six-string as a key to open the portals of perception” (Rockerilla), “a compelling navigation between land and water with eyes always fixed on the depths of the cosmos” (SoWhat), “one of the most beautiful albums you will hear this year” (Impatto Sonoro), “a sonic circularity that becomes nature, humanity, and universe, embracing, satiating, and soothing everything” (Sodapop), “a sort of new optimistic gothic novel that leads us toward an expanded sensation of what is in our world” (Neuguitars). She works on various site-specific and cross-media projects, and her activity in music linked to images is intense, including as a composer of film scores. In 2025, the documentary she scored, Elvira Notari – Oltre il Silenzio by Valerio Ciriaci, about Italy’s first female director, was officially selected for the Venice Film Festival.
She has performed, as interpreter and/or composer, at numerous festivals and institutions including Goethe Institut Kyoto (for IIC Osaka, Japan), Città Sonora, Accademia del Teatro alla Scala, Electroclassic Fest, Operaestate, Teatro la Tosse Genova, Alterazioni, Spaziomusica Cagliari, Tempo Reale, Serate Musicali, Vicoli Corti, Avvistamenti, NoMus, Ibrida, Triennale Milano, Unarchive, Teatri di Vetro, Pesaro Film Festival, Tolfa Jazz, Teatro Linguaggi Creativi, Oggimusica (CH), Chilli Jazz (Austria), Interfaces (Cyprus), Intermediale (Poland), Unerhörte Musik (Berlin), Conservatories of Milan and Novara, and many others. She has collaborated for years with musicians such as Laura Faoro (with whom she was among the 2023 winners of the Life is Live grant from Fondazione Cariplo and Smart), Roberto Zanata, and with artist Salvatore Insana. She is part of W.I.T.C.H.E.S.S. (Womxn Implement The Creation of Harmonious Ecosystems of Selfless Species), an interdisciplinary project by Francesca Remigi that combines literature, dance, and music. She currently collaborates with Elevator Bunker, an artistic research collective in the field of intellectual disability. She teaches at the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado in Milan and in Switzerland.