Italian Cinema
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'
Twice Born (2012)
7.4/10
Director: Sergio Castellitto
Starring: Penelope Cruz, Emile Hirsch
A.k.a. "Venuto al mondo". Gemma visits Sarajevo with her son, Pietro. 16 years earlier, they escaped the war-torn city while Diego, the boy's father,... Read more
Melissa P. (2005)
4.7/10
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Maria Valverde
Based on the sensational international best-seller, 'One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed', 'Melissa P.' is a steamy tale of raw emotions and f... Read more
The City Of Women (1980)
Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Prucel, Bernice Stegers
Marcello Mastroianni stars as the bruised, baffled, bedazzled man who stumbles into a feminist convention, setting off a series of wild surrealistic f... Read more
Danger: Diabolik (1967)
6.5/10
Director: Mario Bava
Starring: Adolfo Celi, John Phillip Law, Michel Piccoli, Marisa Mell, Terry-Thomas
The suave, psychedelic-era thief, Diabolik, can't get enough of life's good - or glittery - things. Not when there are currency shipments to steal fro... Read more
The Salt of Life (2011)
6.3/10
Director: Gianni Di Gregorio
Starring: Valeria De Franciscis, Gianni Di Gregorio, Alfonso Santagata
House husband Gianni has many things to worry about while his retirement slips by doing boring chores for his wife, mother, daughter and pretty neighb... Read more
Suburra (2015)
7.4/10
Director: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Pierfrancesco Favino
A rush of fresh blood to a fine Italian tradition, it doesnt take long for Stefano Sollimas enthralling new crime saga Suburra to transcend its fami... Read more
Flight of the Innocent (1993)
7/10
Director: Carlo Carlei
Starring: Manuel Colao, Francesca Neri, Jacques Perrin
An exciting fast-paced thriller about a little Sicilian boy (well played by Manuel Colao) who finds himself immersed in Mafia warfare and is forced to... Read more
La Terra Trema (1948)
7.9/10
Director: Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti's epic-saga of Sicilian fisherman remains one of the most important films of Italian neo-realism. Shot entirely on location in Sicily... Read more
Journey in Italy (1954)
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Maria Mauban, Paul Muller
A graceful depiction of an eroding marriage that reaches its crisis as the couple holiday in Southern Italy. Roberto Rossellini directed his then-wif... Read more
8 1/2 ( Blu-ray ) (1963)
6.5/10
Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Anouk Aimee, Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni, Sandra Milo
Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about... Read more