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'
Aka 'White Nights'. Marcello Mastroianni, as a lonely city transplant, and Maria Schell, as a sheltered girl haunted by a lover's promise, meet by cha... Read more
An unclassifiably brilliant reverie on life, death, nature and the splendours of Calabria, "Le Quattro Volte" is a deceptively simple and playfully ph... Read more
Receiving Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor, Roberto Benigni's celebrated and popular film boldly blends a sentimental and humourou... Read more
Donatella and Beatrice reside in a psychiatric facility in Tuscany. They have very different life stories, but a chance to escape brings them together... Read more
Gabriele (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) is a successful Italian antique dealer living in Paris. He has wealth, status, a girlfriend - a life perfectly manufac... Read more
Taking place over 20 years and across two continents, this epic miniseries adaptation of Nino Ricci's coming-of-age saga chronicles how a young man de... Read more
Every year, a Countess (Bette Davis) invites a poor Italian family to play in a card game with the Countess' money at stake. She always wins. But one... Read more
Luchino Visconti directs this opulent costume drama. From his glittering coronation in 1864 as King of Bavaria to his mysterious death in 1886, Ludwig... Read more
From Giuseppe Tornatore ("Cinema Paradiso") comes this sexy and sensitive coming-of-age saga set in 1940s Sicily, where 13 year old Renalto (Giuseppe... Read more
Pier Paolo Pasolini's neo-realist masterpiece stars the great Anna Magnani ('Open City') as a middle-aged prostitute who saves money to buy an apartme... Read more