Diva Dolorosa (1999)

A heart-breaking film of incredible beauty! In this mesmerizing collage of silent Italian melodrama, found-footage filmmaker Peter Delpeut (Lyrical Nitrate) affectionately captures the spirit of the World War One-era cinema diva. In all-but-lost gems such as La donna nuda (1914), and Tigre reale (1916), superstars such as Lyda Borelli and Pina Menichelli portrayed heroines teetering dangerously between defiant indulgence in sexual passion and hysterical remorse at their own cruelties. Delpeut's inventive celebration of Black Romanticism is both striking and heartbreaking in its composition —a beautifully woven narrative of tempted fate and self-torment, elegantly guided by Loek Dikker's original score. Zeitgeist Films is proud to present Delpeut's stunningly experimental work in all its heaving bosomed, luridly tinted glory.
Born in 1956, Peter Delpeut studied at the Dutch Film Academy. He worked as an editor for film magazine Skrien from 1982-1988, and was programmer and deputy-director of the Netherlands Filmmuseum from 1988-1995. He was in charge of the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival workshop in 2003 and was Artist in Residence of the Dutch Film Academy from 2004-2005.