Tonight in France on France 2 aired a new documentary on Casanova, created by Jean-Edouard Choppin. Here is a link to the announcement and previews:
http://www.france2.fr/emissions/secrets-d-histoire
It’s part of a series called Secrets d’Histoire. Jean-Edouard Choppin contacted me a year and a half ago because he had come across my book Seductive Venice: In Casanova’s Footsteps, and he had questions about Casanova locations in Venice, where he would be filming. Thus began a correspondence that developed into a friendship, though we have yet to meet face to face.
Jean-Edouard emailed me today to tell me about tonight’s airing of the documentary. And guess what? I’m mentioned in the credits! Woohoo! Here’s a screen shot:
The documentary is in French, so unfortunately I can’t understand the text, though it’s wonderful to see Casanova’s life played out in locations. Choppin includes lots of movie clips, recreations, commentators, and gorgeous shots of actual Casanova locations. Check it out! (I was able to watch it through the site hola.org, which lets you change your viewing location and pretend you’re in France.)
The show has also garnered good press already. Jean-Edouard sent this review from Figaro:
I’m always pleasantly shocked when my writing, which was born from my love of Venice, leads to introductions to wonderful people and other creative projects. What a cool consequence to find my work used in a nationally-aired documentary! Thanks, Jean-Edouard!
dear Seductive, I am the person who organized the conference and am so glad to find a new voice interested in him. It was not obvious, at least not among French lit. scholars in the US! As a new member of his club, I invited scholars whose name and address I knew (this was 3 years ago) and I certainly have missed several, for which I am sorry… I’d love to know who and where you are. I can see that you read him! I must admit that blogging is not my forte, so I am lost in that universe, but still – the encounter happened. Brava!
Hello! Thanks for reaching out. I am very excited about the upcoming conference and am looking forward to meeting other Casanova scholars. My name is Kathleen Gonzalez, and I live in California. My interest in Casanova grew out of my interest in Venice, so I have focused my research on C’s Venetian life and locations. I wrote a guidebook to over 90 locations that C visited or lived at in Venice. You can see the details here: http://www.seductivevenice.com.
Tom Vitelli will be attending, and he is a long-time contributor to l’Intermediaire des Casanovistes. That group of scholars helped me the most in my own research, particularly Marco Leeflang (Netherlands) and Helmut Watzlawick (Switzerland). Furio Luccichenti (Italy) is also very knowledgeable. Adriano Contini (Italy) wrote the Wikipedia page on Casanova and collects photos of sites. He is very thorough in his research. Judith Summers (Great Britain) wrote the book Casanova’s Women, and Nancy Isenberg (American living in Rome) is an expert of Giustiniana Wynne (and her relationship with C). Two others writers with whom I have corresponded are Ian Kelly (Great Britain) and Tony Perrottet(currently in America), who each have written about C.
Have you heard of the “Spying on History” project in Venice? Manuel Carrion has a gallery where visitors can create a small canvas depicting Casanova, and he has fashioned these into a very large mosaic. Manuel hopes to create a gathering of Casanova enthusiasts for 2025. Maybe he is someone you should know! Here is the link to the project, or you can search his name on Google and YouTube. https://www.facebook.com/SpyingCasanova/posts/717998631630872
I look forward to meeting you in a few weeks! You can also reach me by email at kathleenanngonzalez@yahoo.com.
It is wonderful how far your research and your books have reached.