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'
U.S. title; 'Wild Flower'. This film of immense elegance set in Tuscany focuses on the Benedetti family who preserve their time-honoured ways, includ... Read more
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
A wonderful story of the friendship that grows between a young carbiniere and the two abused children he is escorting from Milan to a foster home in P... Read more
Winner of the 1991 Best Foreign Language Academy Award. A small, eight-man battalion is ordered to secure a strategically unimportant Greek island. Th... Read more
The Voice of the Moon (Italian: La voce della luna) is a 1990 Italian dramatic comedy film directed by Federico Fellini and starring Roberto Benigni,... Read more
A biography of Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini. Read more
An alcoholic homeless man is given two hundred francs by a stranger, who requests that when he can he will return the money to Saint Therese in the ca... Read more
A charming, bittersweet tribute to the power of movies which won 1989's Best Foreign Film Academy Award. A filmmaker returns to his Sicilian hometown... Read more
Winner of 1989's Best Foreign Film Academy Award this bittersweet drama sees a filmmaker returns to his hometown in Sicily for the first time in 30 ye... Read more
A charming, bittersweet tribute to the power of movies which won 1989's Best Foreign Film Academy Award. A filmmaker returns to his Sicilian hometown... Read more