Director: Mario Roncoroni / Cast: Valeria Creti / Italy / Release Date: 1917 / Length: 79’ / Presentation: Elif Rongen-Kaynakçı Musicians: Stephen Horne – piano, Frank Bockius – drum
A detective story with a humorous blend of science fiction, Filibus is an ode to the new technology of aviation. The highly skilled thief, Filibus, is played by the highly talented actress Christina Ruspoli, who disguises in the film sometimes as a seducing baroness and sometimes as an antique-lover baron. Thanks to her bourgeois disguise, Filibus can access to opulent parties and even court the sister of her antagonist, Detective Kutt-Henry. If intelligently picked costumes allow her access to rich homes where she can steal valuable items, her technological powers allow her to remain completely airship, with a devoted full-time crew, that lingers at a 2000-metre altitude to watch over her. When in trouble, the airship can pick her up from any location and drop her to any point with its “gondola,” equipped with a phone! A gripping cat-and-mouse story, Filibus illustrates the fascination with aviation technologies at its day.