Free Your Mind!: Giovanni ‘Tinto’ Brass, ‘Swinging London’ and the 60s Pop Culture Scene

Simon Matthews

Softcover | 13.39 x 2.29 x 19.96 cm | 208 pp

Oldcastle Books | 2023 | 9780857305350

Between 1967 and 1970 Italian auteur Giovanni ‘Tinto’ Brass directed four feature films in London, each starring a woman as the main character.

Exploring the political, cultural and sexual ideas of their time, often in a deliberate pop-art style, they contain much priceless footage of now forgotten neighbourhoods, galleries, clubs and events as well as an abundance of contemporary music.

Free Your Mind! describes the films, their stars and how they were made. Based on interviews with many of the surviving participants, it argues that at this stage of his career, before Caligula, Brass was as significant a figure in cinema as Antonioni, Godard and many other better-known directors.

Includes a foreword by Franco Nero, the iconic Italian actor, producer and director, and an addendum by Alan Sekers, focusing on the influence of Jean-Luc Godard.