Franco Angeli stars in Sandro Franchina's 1968 film 'Morire gratis'

In 1968, Franco Angeli, a self-taught painter and key member of the Scuola di Piazza del Popolo, played the lead role in Sandro Franchina's only feature film 'Morire gratis'. The road movie follows an artist transporting a sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf from Rome to Paris, with the sculpture hiding drugs. Angeli's character is cynical and bored, declaring 'Morire gratis è morire per niente'. The film features Karen Blanguernon as Michelle. Critic Paolo Mereghetti described it as a 'curious road movie ahead of its time, with an avant-garde atmosphere'. Franchina, grandson of Gino Severini and son of sculptor Nino Franchina, later made art documentaries for Miuccia Prada and Carlo Bertelli, including films on Eliseo Mattiacci, David Smith, Mark di Suvero, Anish Kapoor, and Jannis Kounellis. Angeli also explored the art-cinema link, planning a 1972 exhibition combining film and painting at Galleria Sirio in Rome. In 2022, his nephew, also named Franco Angeli, directed the documentary 'Lo spazio inquieto' about his uncle, presented at the Torino Film Festival.