The history of Italian cinema began with a few seconds footage of Pope Leo XIII blessing the camera. Historical dramas were most popular in these early years before sound. During and after WWI, funds were short and nothing much of interest was made until the 1920s. With the rise of fascism the film industry was encouraged and in 1937 Cinecitta was built on the outskirts of Rome. Literally a 'cinema city', it contained everything a film maker could need or want, including theatres, and even a cinematography school. The slogan on posters at the time read "Cinema is The Most Powerful Weapon". Newsreels and propagandistic documentaries were filmed here but by 1939, feature film productions were underway. Visconti ('Ossessione'), Rossellini (Rome, Open City') and De Sica ('Bicycle Thief') all began their careers here. Post-war, two distinct trends emerged in Italian cinema: on the one hand, the neo-realist films of Rossellini and De Sica, made chiefly on location in the streets of Rome and surrounding towns; and on the other, the American megaproductions, filmed almost entirely on sets constructed in the Cinecitta studios. In 1948, 'Quo Vadis?', 'Roman Holiday (1952), 'Three Coins in a Fountain' (1954), 'Farewell to Arms' (1957), 'Ben Hur' (1958) and 'Cleopatra' (1961), to cite only the most famous. Federico Fellini shot most of his films, at least in part at Cinecitta and to this day the studios are used for television and film productions. Mention must also be made of Pasolini, Bertolucci, Zeffirelli, Antonioni, Sergio Leone - Italy has given cinema some of its greatest individuals and auteurs. Pictured: The lost kisses from 'Cinema Paradiso'
Explores the manner in which money dictates the lives of people in Milan at the dawn of the 21st century. Ugo (Luca Zingaretti) is a crooked banker wi... Read more
The tale of a boy who grows up to become a linguistics professor, thereby escaping the despotic tyranny of a father who wants him to train as a shephe... Read more
A biography of Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini. Read more
During a dinner party, seven friends decide to play a dangerous game. The attendees place their cellphones on the table and agree to make all texts an... Read more
Jean Sorel stars as an arrogant San Francisco doctor trapped between his sultry mistress (Elsa Martinelli) and an amoral stripper (Marisa Mell) who be... Read more
Europe, WWII. When an Allied Spitfire plane containing important radar equipment is shot down and crashes over Norway, the desperate German forces set... Read more
Film exec Pietro (Nanni Moretti) faces tragedy when his wife dies in a freak accident. Now left with a ten-year-old daughter to raise alone, he takes... Read more
From Matteo Garrone, acclaimed director of the award winning "Gomorrah", "Reality" is a darkly comic look at Luciano (Aniello Arena), a charming and a... Read more
Michelangelo Antonioni's first colour film is an intriguing study of alienation. Against the backdrop of a sterilized, impersonal industrial landscape... Read more
Mirco Mencacci (Luca Capriotti) is a young Tuscan boy who loses his sight in a gun accident. His life shifts direction as law insists that he attend a... Read more