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'
Agatha and the Storm (2004)
Director: Silvio Soldini
Starring: Licia Maglietta, Giuseppe Battiston, Claudio Santamaria
As proprietor of a bookshop in Genoa, the warm and intelligent Agatha dispenses literary wisdom to her adoring customers. When a younger man heeds her... Read more
Remember Me (2003)
6.5/10
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Starring: Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Laura Morante, Monica Bellucci, Silvio Muccino, Nicoletta...
A.k.a. "Remember Me, My Love". This finely judged, complex drama is about two generations in an Italian family. Carlo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) and Giuli... Read more
Facing Windows (2003)
7.4/10
Director: Ferzan Ozpetek
Starring: Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Raoul Bova, Massimo Girotti, Filippo Nigro
A young working-class wife and mother, Giovanna, has no time for the senile elderly man her husband has rescued from the streets. But as she uncovers... Read more
A Few Days in September (2006)
5.4/10
Director: Santiago Amigorena
Starring: Juliette Binoche, John Turturro, Sara Forestier, Tom Riley, Nick Nolte
An international tale of intrigue with more than a hint of satire has Juliette Binoche as a French agent on the trail of a missing CIA operative with... Read more
Gomorrah (2008)
7/10
Director: Matteo Garrone
Starring: Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparato, Salvatore Cantalupo, Maria Nazionale, Marco...
Matteo Garrone's stark, shocking vision of contemporary gangsterdom, is one of cinema's most authentic depictions of organized crime. A tour de force... Read more
The Son's Room (2001)
7.4/10
Director: Nanni Moretti
Starring: Laura Morante, Nanni Moretti
This critically acclaimed family drama from director Nanni Moretti ('Caro Diario') won the Palme d'Or (Best Film) at Cannes. The film looks at how a c... Read more
Amarcord (1974)
7.8/10
Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Magali Noel, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio
The title is from the Italian for "I remember" and that is what Director Fellini does in this heartfelt autobiographical drama. The life and times of... Read more
L'Avventura (1960)
8/10
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring: Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti
A scathing examination of Italy's aristocratic classes set within the framework of a mystery story, director Michelangelo Antonioni's groundbreaking f... Read more
Nostalgia ( aka Nostalghia ) (1983)
8.2/10
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Oleg Yankovsky, Domiziana Giordano
A homesick Russian poet, researching in Italy with the aid of a beautiful interpreter, arrives at a Tuscan spa and is set a challenging task by the lo... Read more
Arabian Nights (1974)
6.8/10
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
The final part of Pasolini's 'Trilogy of Life' series, following 'The Decameron' and 'The Canterbury Tales', was two years in the making. The location... Read more