Antologia dei filmati neuropatologici di Camillo Negro e Roberto Omegna (1906-1918 ca.) Anthology Of Neuropathological Movies Shot By Prof. Camillo Negro and Roberto Omegna (1906-1918 ca.) Director: Camillo Negro, Roberto Omegna –
Director of photography: Roberto Omegna –
Intertitles: Italian/English –
The film:
Camillo Negro, professor of neurology at the University of Torino, was a pioneer of the scientific cinematography. Between 1906 and 1908, with the help of his assistant Giuseppe Rosaenda and in collaboration with Roberto Omegna, one of the most experienced cinematographers in Italy, he filmed some of his patients with scientific and educational purposes. During the First World War Camillo Negro dedicated himself to the study of war syndromes and continued his cinematic documentation by filming some of the soldiers hurt at the front and recovering at the Military Hospital in Turin.
The Museo Nazionale del Cinema, together with the Dipartimento di Neuroscienze dell'Università di Torino, presented in autumn 2011 a new critical edition of the neuropathological films directed by Negro. The long and complex research work made for this new edition has allowed to distinguish the materials coming from different sources, to introduce a new order for the presentations of the cases reconstructed following that time sources. Especially, it permits to integrate the film, already restored in the nineties, with some recently found and identified inedited material.
The film is a unique scientific document that allows us to reflect on the evolution of the neuropathological disorders and their concept of cure, but is even more a shocking evidence from a humanistic point of view. The viewing stimulates a deep reflection on the pain, the ethics of the cinematic recording and the relationship between mentally ill patient and the social structure. The figure of Doctor Negro and his relationship with his patients is also a precious occasion to watch the charismatic figure of a bourgeois person torn between humanity and professional pride filming his “admirable subjects”.
The film restoration:
The restoration of this anthology of neuropathological films shot by Professor Camillo Negro with Roberto Omegna was conducted by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino and it is based on a nitrate positive copy and a dupe negative from the 1997 restoration. Integrations were made possible thanks to the discovery of three nitrate positive reels, a fragment of a nitrate camera negative and a 35mm positive safety copy, all conserved in the Museum’s collections.
The anthology includes three sections: La neuropatologia from 1908, a series of undated takes which show Professor Negro with his collaborators, and material dealing with war syndromes. The episodes have been separated by 10 black frames. The blackened frames of the camera negative were replaced by 5 black frames.
The restoration was carried out at the laboratory L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna in 2011.
