Lake Country ArtWalk 2025 has a special sit-down event.
Coldstream artist and filmmaker Heidi Thompson will host two special sneak preview screenings of Sveva Caetani: Recapitulation – A Journey.
The film will be screened during the Lake Country ArtWalk this weekend.
"These limited previews are presented for audience feedback and cultural engagement, and do not constitute a public commercial premiere, preserving the film's festival eligibility," said Thompson.
The film will be show Saturday, Sept. 6, from 7:30-9 p.m. at Creekside Theatre, and again Sunday, Sept. 7, from 2-3:30 p.m. at the George Elliot Secondary School drama room.
Tickets are $12.50. Seating is limited so early reservation is encouraged at . Payment will also be taken at ArtWalk's sales desk in the George Elliot Secondary main foyer, at Thompson's art booth at ´Ecole H.S. Grenda Middle School foyer (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday), or by e-transfer payment to .
An additional screening takes place in the Caetani Cultural Centre Gallery on Wednesday, Sept. 24 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Admission is by donation and RSVP registration is recommended. A short intermission will take place mid-way through the film. Refreshments will be available by donation.
Written and painted by Sveva Caetani, adapted, produced, and directed by Thompson – friend and photographer of Italian-Canadian artist Caetani – the 84-minute immersive film blends painting, writing, music and poetic narration to trace Caetani’s extraordinary life — from loss and isolation to luminous artistic awakening.
The film was created in collaboration with Armenia-based cinematographer Nikita Bagratuni.
“After a life marked by heartbreak and isolation, Sveva Caetani emerged with extraordinary courage to confront the darkest corners of the human condition — and to transform them into luminous works of art, alive with imagination, colour, and light,” said Thompson. “This film invites audiences to step inside her paintings and experience that profound transformation for themselves.”
Caetani's complete Recapitulation series will be featured in a monumental exhibition at MAXXI Museum of Modern Art in Rome, opening Oct. 3.
Caetani died in 1994.
Recapitulation – A Journey brings to the screen Caetani's 56-painting magnum opus, interweaving her texts and imagery into a contemporary, cinematic, what Thompson calls a "modern Divine Comedy."
Thompson's adaptive visual language – respecting Caetani's original artworks while crafting a fluid widescreen experience – guides viewers through "Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise" toward a final chapter of spaciousness, colour, and hope.
The film extends Thompson's decades-long work preserving and sharing Caetani's legacy, including her earlier publication of the award-winning art book Recapitulation – A Journey.
Thompson will introduce the screening, and host a question-and-answer session after each showing. She will also have her own abstract art on display at ArtWalk 2025.
The Caetani Centre is also opening its doors Sept. 23 to 26 where those in attendance will be the first to see newly digitized footage of Sveva speaking about Recapitulation. The centre is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and visitors can take a self-guided tour of the 130-year-old heritage home museum featuring new displays of Caetani family collections and a revamped Gift Shop.
