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'
Apparently conceived as a tribute to the Cinecitta Studios in Rome, Fellini's beloved home base throughout his career, this 'mockumentary' is a magica... Read more
"Kaos" consists of four stories plus epilogue, set in 19th-century Sicily. 'The Other Son' - A mother spends her life waiting for news from her two s... Read more
A uniquely Felliniesque ocean voyage, circa 1914, with a journalist (Freddie Jones) acting as our host and introducing us to a variety of celebrated g... Read more
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
Michelangelo Antonionis Identification of a Woman is a body- and soul-baring voyage into one mans artistic and erotic consciousness. After his wife... Read more
Aka "The Night of San Lorenzo". During the final days of World War II, a small town in Italy finds its residents divided into two factions - those who... Read more
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
Rosi's BAFTA-winning epic stars Gian Maria Volonte as Carlo Levi, an artist and political exile banished to a southern Italian village by Mussolini's... Read more
Inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film in name and genre only, this 'macaroni combat' film is set in WWII Europe as a group of American soldier... 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