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'
Gabriele (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) is a successful Italian antique dealer living in Paris. He has wealth, status, a girlfriend - a life perfectly manufac... 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
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
Based on Lorenza Mazzetti's acclaimed novel inspired by her true life experiences in WWII Tuscany. Two recently orphaned girls come to live with thei... Read more
A lavishly colorful baroque fantasy with Giulietts Masina (in real life Mrs Fellini) as a middle-aged woman haunted by hallucinations from her past an... Read more
Features a crazed Helmut Berger as a powerful SS officer who will do anything to get the dirt on his fellow Nazis and their wives. An erotic and, at t... Read more
Ermanno Olmi's heartfelt look at peasant life in Lombardy, Italy at the turn of the century won the Golden Palm Award at Cannes. The story involves th... Read more
For decades, journalist Jep Gambardella has charmed and seduced his way through the glittering nightlife of Rome. Since the legendary success of his o... Read more
The first part of Pasolini's great trilogy, based on the ribald tales of Boccaccio, which deal with human sensuality and artistic creation. Pasolini h... Read more
'Eclipse'. A fascinating drama of alienation about a translator (Monica Vitti) who breaks up with her boyfriend and commences an affair with stockbrok... Read more