Vita delle farfalle, La Life of the Butterfly, The(1911) Director: Roberto Omegna –
Production: Società Anonima Ambrosio, Torino –
Original lenght: 242 m –
Lenght: 240m –
Intertitles: Italian –
Censorship certificate: n. 5301, 17/11/1914 –
Availability date: 12/1911
The film:
This extraordinary 'scientific film' shows the metamorphosis of the caterpillars from chrysalises to butterflies. Roberto Omegna, director and cameraman, was one of the best operator in Torino, as we can see from the wonderful quality of the shots, full of details, of light and dark and sense of composition. A fast shot shows us a few butterflies breaking delicately their cocoon and opening their wrinkly wings for the first time. To this day, these images despite the remarkable technological progresses, still transmit a deep sense of wonder for the variety and the complexity of nature.
The second part of the film shows us different types of butterflies in their habitat identified with signs which give their scientific names: Parnassus Apollo, Papilio Machaon Europa and Vanessa Io Europa. It is likely that, at the beginning, this second part was richer and included many more examples. The luxuriant variety of the images is enough to understand the aim of the film: not only educational but also, in a way, contemplative.
The film restoration:
The restoration of La vita delle farfalle was conducted by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino in collaboration with the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Cineteca Nazionale of Rome, from a tinted and toned nitrate positive copy 241 meters long with French intertitles belonged to the Archivio di Cinema d'impresa (Edison Collection) and conserved in Rome, and with a tinted nitrate positive copy 205 meters long with Italian intertitles conserved in Torino. The Italian intertitles missing in the copy from Torino were reconstructed on the basis of the French intertitles in the copy from Rome.
The restoration was carried out at the laboratory L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna in 2011.
This restoration was part of a project promoted by the the Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino to safeguard and valorize the winning films of the Film Competition held on the occasion of Torino’s World Expo in 1911. The film La vita delle farfalle received first prize in the category of scientific films.
