Oscar Molinari

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Oscar Molinari Herrera (b. Rome, March 8th, 1941, d. Caracas, September 25th, 2017) was an Italian-Venezuelan filmmaker, photographer, artist and writer. Oscar Molinari was part of a generation of young filmmakers who the early 1970's maintained an avant-garde position in the cultural scene in Venezuela. In 1972 he writes and directs the short Ojo de agua (The Fountainhead) with which he receives the award to the Best Short Film at the Cadiz Film Festival (Spain, 1972), the award for Best Short Film at the New York Film Festival (USA, 1972) and a special mention at the Film Festival of Caracas (Venezuela, 1972). In 1973, after his return from Spain, where he established a life-long friendship with Salvador Dalí, he creates the Independent Film Workshop in Caracas alongside Diego Rísquez, Carlos Azpúrua, Carlos Oteyza and Julio Neri. Molinari was one of the founders and organizers of the New Venezuelan Film Festival (Festival de Cine Nuevo Venezolano). In 1974 he travels to Los Angeles, invited by close friend and actor George Hamilton, and enters the University of Southern California where he studies actor direction under Lee Strasberg and animation and editing with Alejandro Jodorowsky. Upon the completion of his studies, he returns briefly to Venezuela to direct his second short film La Bicicleta (The Bicycle). By the late 1970's, Molinari establishes himself in Mexico City and begins collaborating with Alejandro Jodorowsky by creating fotonovelas (photo novels) where Jodorowsky would write the text and Molinari would photograph the narrative. These fotonovelas were included in the popular Mexican magazine Sucesos where Jodorowsky was Chief Editor.