FORGET VENICE

Original British 30 inch x 40 inch Quad Poster for the 1979 Franco Brusati Drama FORGET VENICE starring Erland Josephson, Mariangela Melato, Eleonora Giorgi, David Pontremoli, Hella Petri, Fred Personne, Anne Caudry, Armando Brancia, Nerina Montagnani, Peter Boom and Paolo Rovesi.

A group of young people gather at the country home of Aunt Marta, a generous and gay widow. Memories of childhood are revealed and relationships explored, until the unexpected death of Aunt Marta forces them to face up to the passing of time.

The poster art is by Peter Strausfeld. Strausfeld was interned in the Isle of Man at the Onchan Internment Camp during the War where he met the Austrian producer George Hoellering. In 1947 Hoellering opened the Academy Cinema on Oxford Street and invited Strausfeld to produce some posters for the cinema which he did in wood and lino-cuts till his death in 1980.

The Academy Cinema, built in 1913, was saved from conversion to a shopping arcade in 1928 by Elsie Cohen of the original Film Society, who proceeded to run it as an arthouse which is how it was ran till it’s closure in 1986.

The posters became a London landmark, in fact very few were used outside of London, resulting in very small print runs of 3-500.

Printed by Ward & Foxlow Ltd., 19 Harcourt Street, London W1H 2AX

The poster is in fine unfolded (rolled) condition.