Cesare Bedogné is an Italian photographer, film-maker and writer. He graduated with honors in Mathematics with a thesis on Minkovski Space-Time, the geometrical foundation of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. In the course of his studies he also deepened his interest for the visual arts, with particular attention to cinema and photography, and in the early 90’s he set up his first darkroom in the Netherlands, where he had joined Monique. In those years, “in the aim to capture the gaze in its pure state” he developed his Innerscapes body of work (currently included in this website within the Dutch Years series) focusing on “the strange moments when interior and exterior, the eye and the things looked at, seem to dissolve one in another”. After the loss of Monique due to leukemia (1998), Cesare Bedogné returned to Italy and started working on the “Broken Images” series (a quote from T.S.Eliot' s Waste Land) in a deserted Sanatorium in the Italian Alps, where – in his own words - he recognised his “personal landscape of desolation, stilled in a frozen twilight: the mysterious bareness where the soul, alone, returns to itself”. Starting from the late ‘90’s his photographs have been exhibited, solo and in group shows, in several art galleries and museums worldwide, such as Ch'i Contemporary Art Gallery in New York, Dagmar Schmidla Art Gallery in Cologne (which represented his work in Europe for many years before closing), at the Italian Institute of Culture of Athens, at Fotomuseum Den Haag in the Netherlands and many others.
In 2007 Cesare Bedogné moved to Greece, where writing also became one of his privileged means of expression. He published to date four collections of poems and short stories. His first, autobiographical novel “Oltre l’Azzurro” (“Beyond the Blue”, a recollection of his Dutch years) and the author’s photographs, were at the basis of the film "Story for an empty theatre", which Cesare Bedognè co-directed in 2016 with the Russian film-maker Alexandr Balagura. This film was selected to date in several international film festivals and won awards both as Best Documentary Film and Best Experimental Film. In particular, "Story for an empty theatre" was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the Great Indian Film and Literature Festival of New Delhi, the Best Experimental Film Award at the Festival del Nuovo Cinema di Alghero and the Best Experimental Film Award at the New Renaissance Film Festival of Amsterdam. The film was also screened at the London Greek Film Festival, at the Innuendo Film Festival of Milan (where it was awarded a Special Mention of the Jury), at Cinemistica in Spain and many others.
In 2017 he shot in Lesvos his second film project, "Maria's Silence", which was also awarded numerous prizes internationally, such as the Best Avant-Garde Film Award at the Concrete Dream Festival of Los Angeles ("Philippe Mora Award") and the Best Feature Narrative Award at the AMIIWorkFest of Vilnius. Maria's Silence also won the Best Experimental Film Award at the 4th edition of the European Cinematography Awards (Amsterdam 2019), the Best Director Award in the Experimental section of the New York Aphrodite Film Awards, the Best Experimental Film Award in FICCSUR Valparaiso. Maria's Silence was also screened at the Harlem International Film Festival of New York, at the Istanbul International Experimental Film Festival, at the Berlin Revolution Film Festival at the One Shot Film Festival of Yerevan (organized by the Armenian Centre for Contemporary Experimental Arts), at the 69th edition of the prestigious Montecatini Short Film Festival (Italy) and several others. A full list is available in the dedicated page in this web-site.
In 2019 Cesare Bedognè completed his third short film project, entitled "The Last Step of an Acrobat", achieving many awards as well, including the Best Film Award at AMIIWorkFest of Vilnius. This work was also screened at the VI Edition of Cinemistica Film Festival in Granada, at the Scandinavian Film Festival of Helsinki, at the Illambra Experimental Film Festival of Berlin, at the Kutaisi IFF in Georgia, at the Les Rimbaud du Cinema Film Festival of Charleville and at the Europe Autour de l'Europe Film Festival of Paris.
In July 2021 he completed a new short film entitled “Photographing New York" and inspired by the homonymous poem he wrote many years before, on occasion of his first solo exhibition overseas. This experimental short had its world premiere in Vienna on occasion of the 6th Art Visuals & Poetry Film Festival (the second world's largest Festival of its kind). The film was also screened in Paris in November 2021, again at the 16th L'Europe Autour de l'Europe Film Festival, at the On the Road Film Festival in Rome and at the 75° Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Salerno.
Cesare Bedogné completed in 2022 another documentary/experimental short film entitled "Lost Images", winner of numerous awards internationally (including a Special mention of the Jury at Cinemistica IFF in Granada and London Rocks IFF, the Best Experimental Featurette Award at the Dream Machine Film Festival in Los Angeles, the Best Experimental Film Award in Experimental Brasil). Lost Images premiered in Italy in the 76° Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Salerno and was screened in 2023 at the 73rd edition of the Montecatini Film Festival.
Together with Aleksandr Balagura, Cesare Bedogné was the co-founder of Flight, the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Genova.