New York paid tribute to Carlo Rambaldi, three times Oscar winner and recently honored posthumous with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, considered one of the fathers of modern special effects. The retrospective MoMA × Cinecittà, inaugurated on 10 December 2025, follows the great tribute presented at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, continuing the global celebration of an artist who revolutionized the visual language of cinema.
The opening of the exhibition saw a reception at Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin Lounge, followed by the screening of Dario Argento’s Red Background (1975), restored in 4K under the supervision of the same director, at the Roy and Niuta Titus 1 Theater. The event offered the New York public the opportunity to rediscover some of the greatest masterpieces of film history, including E.T. the extra-terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982), Dune (David Lynch, 1984), Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979), Close-up third-party meetings (Steven Spielberg, 1977) and King Kong (John Guillermin, 1976).
The retrospective, curated by Rajendra Roy, Chief Curator of Film del MoMA, in collaboration with Cinecittà, represents the most significant tribute dedicated to Rambaldi in North America. The selection of fifteen films traces the impact of the master both on Italian cinema and on the most ambitious Hollywood productions, including works by Pasolini, Ferreri, Bava, Freda and Visconti, many of which are presented in new Cinecittà restorations.
Carlo Rambaldi is remembered as a visionary who has been able to combine sculpture, engineering and emotion, giving life to cinematic creatures that have changed the way to tell stories on the big screen. Often referred to as the “Leonardo da Vinci of Cinematographic Creatures”, Rambaldi created iconic characters that continue to influence contemporary directors, including Guillermo del Toro and Duffer Brothers, inspired by the silhouettes of E.T. and Alien for the Stranger Things series.
Throughout the exhibition, Daniela Rambaldi, daughter of the master, was present in New York for interviews. Daniela shared personal memories of her father’s creative process, anecdotes from her childhood in Hollywood and extraordinary curiosity, including the fact that she was the first person to see E.T. while her father was giving birth.
It continues the wonder that he accompanied him throughout his career, from when he was a child to Hollywood. He continued to create creatures capable of eliciting in the viewer the wonder. This retrospective at the MoMA is a celebration and emotion for us as a family, and also as a Foundation, is immense. It closes the circle of celebrations, because having a retrospective here at the MoMA, as it was for the Academy Museum, represents, I think, a very important milestone. For the centenary we decided to unveil what were all its secrets in creating the most iconic characters. So we’re in the process of making a real full archive of everything he’s kept in all his years of career. He was very jealous of his technical projects, E.T.’s animatronics. We found all the creative process of these gears that gave rise to ET and we will create this volume that will be, I think, a passion for filmmakers and new generations who know digital but do not know the traditional special effect. To find an easy reading key to approach the new generations, we took a picture of it, of its Spatial Atmosfere collection. We took this picture and transformed it into a VR experience where, with goggles, the viewer enters the picture and finds himself in a parallel world that is the imagination of Carlo Rambaldi. So it was like translating what he left to be tangible in a virtual world, but it makes perfectly understand what the potential of his imagination was. Daniela Rambaldi, daughter of the famous Carlo.
The initiative, part of the global celebration of the Rambaldi heritage, is supported by the Directorate-General for Cinema and Audiovisual of the Italian Ministry of Culture, confirming the fundamental role of Italian cinema and its talents in the art of special effects and in the history of world cinema. With the retrospective, the MoMA offered the New York audience the rare opportunity to rediscover the classic cinematographic in their full visual power, celebrating the genius of an artist who transformed the way emotions form on the big screen.
L’articolo We were at the opening of the retrospective on Carlo Rambaldi al MoMA proviene da IlNewyorkese.
