“Theft is good, actually.” – Cody

FILIBUS is a 1915 Italian silent film directed by Mario Roncoroni and written by Giovanni Bertinetti. It features Valeria Creti as Baroness Troixmonde and the titular Filibus, an Italian sky pirate and infamous burglar. In an attempt to cast off suspicion after her recent heist of the International Bank, the baroness enters a competition to find the culprit and frame investigating detective Kutt-Hendy (played by Giovanni Spano) himself as Filibus. The film follows the pirate’s exploits staging new crimes to pin on the detective while disguised as a young nobleman, using her wits and various gadgets to maintain stay just one step ahead of the investigator – all while courting his sister Leonora (played by Cristina Ruspoli) in disguise.

FILIBUS is often cited as an early pioneer of feminist fiction as well as queer representation, cross-dressing, genderfluidity, and science fiction. It played at the Trylon and was accompanied by a live score by pianist Katie Condon and was shown with the assistance of the University of Minnesota’s Imagine Fund as part of the Twin Cities Silent Film Project.

Links:

- “Filibus (Re)Introduces Us to the Wild, Weird Women of 1910s Cinema” by Daniel Lawrence Aufmann for Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/2022/01/23/filibus-reintroduces-us-to-the-wild-weird-women-of-1910s-cinema/

- Buy tickets to “Elegy for a Master: Late Kurosawa” (February 2022 at the Trylon Cinema): https://www.trylon.org/films/category/elegy-for-a-master-late-kurosawa/

- Buy tickets to “Anime’s Great Genius: Satoshi Kon” (March 2022 at the Trylon Cinema): https://www.trylon.org/films/category/animes-great-genius-satoshi-kon/

- Buy tickets to “Ishirô Honda’s Godzilla” (May 2022 at the Trylon Cinema): https://www.trylon.org/films/category/ishiro-hondas-godzilla/

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra and Donald Sosin from the FILIBUS rerelease trailer.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 158: FILIBUS (1915)

2:14 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, LLC)

4:12 - Jason’s thoughts

8:54 - Cody’s thoughts

13:49 - Harry’s thoughts

19:16 - How foregrounding makes FILIBUS more fun

28:39 - What it’s like to see (scare quotes) “contemporary” themes in a century-old movie

33:07 - Staging and framing 1910s Italy

38:56 - Final thoughts

45:48 - Cody’s Noteys (Song Line or Tagline?)