Gay Filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini Getting Major MOMA Restrospective

Before the 1970s, we tend to think of people’s reputations and careers being irredeemably destroyed if it was revealed they were gay. That was true for many, but some managed to overcome the social and professional problems being outed caused. One of those was Pier Paolo Pasolini, who was outed following an arrest in the late 1940s where he was charged with ‘obscene acts in public places’.

Although it initially destroyed his life, forcing him to move to Rome where he remained essentially unemployable for several years (perceptions of Communist sympathies didn’t help either), he fought back, becoming one of the most important films directors in Italian history, with movies such as The Gospel According to Matthew, Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom and The Decameron.

Now he’s due to get a major, full retrospective presented by New York’s MOMA (Museum Of Modern Art) at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters from December 13th, 2012 through January 5th, 2013, which will feature all of his movies.

While Pasolini rarely dealt explicitly with homosexuality (although it’s touched up in Teorema, Arabian Night and Salo) and didn’t consider himself a ‘gay artist’, sex, power and society were strong themes in his work, and you can definitely see that the effect of coming of age as a gay man during the political tumult of the Second World War and its aftermath had a profound effect on his viewpoint as an artist.

The film retrospective will be accompanied by a series of events including recitals highlighting Pasolini’s works as an essayist, poet, and composer. MoMA PS1 will also feature Saló or the 120 Days of Sodom, Teorema, and Medea as continuous cinematic installations running throughout the film retrospective, while Location 1 will host a gallery exhibition bringing together over 40 rarely exhibited drawings and paintings by Pasolini.

Pasolini was murdered in 1975 after he was run over numerous cars by his own car. A young hustler was convicted of his murder, although there have been rumours over the years the boys was forced to confess by those who’d killed Pasolini because they thought he was a ‘dirty communist’. Other evidence has suggested he could have been killed by an extortionist.