Stefania Rossi’s Biography Revives Experimental Filmmaker Alberto Grifi

Stefania Rossi’s book 'L’evoluzione biologica di una lacrima. Il cinema di Alberto Grifi' (Timía Edizioni, Rome, 2017) reconstructs the life and work of Alberto Grifi (Rome, 1938–2007), Italy’s most significant experimental filmmaker. The volume combines biography with interviews and testimonies from figures such as Adriano Aprà, Franco Berardi, Gianmarco Torri, and Giordana Mayer. Grifi, a militant visionary and technician, co-created 'Verifica incerta' (1964) with Gianfranco Baruchello. His film 'Orgonauti, evviva!' (1968–70) explored building a machine to capture biological rhythms, a proto-transhumanist idea. 'Anna' (1972–75) was the first Italian film shot on videotape, a cinéma vérité experiment. Rossi, who met Grifi in 2004 at a workshop at Fondazione Baruchello, conducted extensive interviews and accessed his fragmented archive. She describes Grifi as elusive and explosive, a figure who defied categorization. The book reveals Grifi’s engagement with Dada, Surrealism, situationist theory, and thinkers like Bataille, Foucault, Deleuze, Guattari, and Reich. Rossi emphasizes Grifi’s relentless experimentation across genres, including science fiction. The biography aims to preserve Grifi’s legacy and make his papers accessible.