"RICO (The Richard Demarco Story)" dir. Dr Marco Federici, 85mins, MLC Productions UK 2021

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UPDATE (8th June 2023)

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"RICO" wins the Royal Television Society Award (Scotland) for Best Director!

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This acclaimed feature documentary had its televised UK premiere on BBC Scotland, on the 4th of August 2022 upon the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival.  The world premiere had been held the year previous at Yale University's New Haven Doc Fest 2021 and has been screened subsequently at Edinburgh College of Art, the Munich New Wave Film Festival,  Monmouth Festival Illinois, Toronto Independent Festival, Liverpool International as well as winning the audience prize for best documentary at the Central Scotland Documentary Festival (University of Stirling). 

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Uniquely, the film has been awarded the "Ken Russell Seal of Approval" by his estate, who described the film as "Astonishing! A superb document of "The Larger than Lifeness "of a man who seeks to connect, inspire and preserve those miracle-glimpses of human expression in the visual arts, the very act of seeking and discovery, and of simple friendship."

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Janice Forsyth of BBC Radio Scotland described the film as "Unmissable, a truly remarkable film." 

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Charlie Ellis from The Scottish Review called RICO "Superb, a piece of art in itself."

 

The film represents a decade-long effort by filmmaker Marco Federici to tell the story of Richard Demarco's early life as an Italo-Scot growing up in wartime Scotland to becoming an iconic figure of the Edinburgh Festival, producing over 5000 visual art exhibitions and performances. Richard invited artists from all over the globe to experience the Celtic world, influencing their work and in some cases, sending their careers onto a trajectory of international recognition. 

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Featuring contributions from Brian Cox (HBO's Succession), Marina Abramovic, Sir Nicolas Serota and Andrew Marr among others, alongside previously unseen footage and images of Paul Neagu, Tadeusz Kantor and Joseph Beuys, "RICO" is available on BBC  iPlayer, and for exhibition and festival screenings throughout 2022. If you would like to arrange a screening, please contact marco@mlcproductionsuk.com for further details.

 

Click here to read The Scottish Review's detailed critique of the film: https://www.scottishreview.net/CharlieEllis588a.html

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