Punto Cieco is a creative project by photographer and filmmaker Giuseppe Foglia. It takes its point of departure from the Venetian masks used in the masked ball sequence of Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s final film, released in 1999.
Since 2018, through meticulous research, Foglia has identified every mask model visible in the sequence and tracing their origins to the Venetian ateliers in which they were produced.
The same artisans were commissioned to recreate 40 masks from the Venice Carnival masks for Eyes Wide Shut, using the original plaster molds from the 1990s. These artisans meticulously followed the historical manufacturing processes employed at the time.
The masks from Punto Cieco are faithful replicas in every respect: hand-made by the same Venetian mask-making maestros selected by Kubrick, using the same materials and traditional techniques.
The masks that were recreated in Venice become a starting point for a new artistic creation that results in a previously unpublished series of photographic works by Giuseppe Foglia.
These photographs of Punto Cieco represent the most personal part of the project: an independent body of work that brings Kubrick’s Carnival masks into a wider dialogue with nude photography. This offers a contemporary re-reading of the Eyes Wide Shut sequence and an original perspective on questions of identity, sexuality, and desire.
Through this process, Punto Cieco unites past and present, historical research and contemporary artistic production, turning a cinematic masterpiece into a source of renewed creative energy.
Punto Cieco’s photographic project is currently still in the works. This website will present updates on newly created photographs, as well as information on opportunities for collaboration with the project.
Since 2024, Punto Cieco has been enriched by the contribution of Filippo Ulivieri, a writer and scholar of Stanley Kubrick’s films. Ulivieri’s work explores the historical context and production aspects of Eyes Wide Shut through research he conducted at the Stanley Kubrick Archive in London, as well as interviews he made with collaborators who were involved in the creation of the masked ball sequence.
Once completed, Punto Cieco will offer an unprecedented detailed exploration of the genesis of one of the most enigmatic and compelling sequences in the history of cinema.
