Italy

“A meditation on history, memory, and change in Central and Eastern Europe, Buried in Light is a non-narrative journey, a cinematic collage. Cohen’s “search for images” began at a time of extraordinary flux, as the Berlin Wall was dismantled—opening borders yet ushering in a nascent wave of consumer capitalism. What he saw struck him as a profound paradox: the moment Eastern Europe was revealed was simultaneously the moment it was hidden by the blinding light of commercialism. Cohen’s images are neither the tourist’s roster of picturesque vistas and monuments, nor the mass media’s definitive catalog of dramatic moments. Instead, he focuses on details, ordinary objects, and forgotten places—filming daily life as seen on the street.”
—Linda Dubler, Art at the Edge (Atlanta: High Museum of Art)Read More »

Quote:
Both the Trento History Museum and the Italian History Museum of War of Rovereto came into being immediately after the First World War and have since then combined their exhibition programme with active research into twentieth century history. It is not surprising, then, to find both these museums working together, with the
support of several local authorities, to produce a documentary.
The war cycle by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi finds very vivid echo in the local reality where the Great War still stirs very vibrant memories in the local population and where the physical signs of the conflict are still to be seen in the local territory.Read More »

Scharph:
Made right after the great success of Risi’s own Poveri ma belli, and released later the same year, here are the further adventures of Romolo, Salvatore and Giovanna.Read More »

Intimate portrait of a woman drifting between reality and denial when she is left alone to grapple with the consequences of her husband’s imprisonment.

Hannah is the intimate portrait of a woman’s loss of identity as she teeters between denial and reality. Left alone grappling with the consequences of her husband’s imprisonment, Hannah begins to unravel. Through the exploration of her fractured sense of identity and loss of self-control, the film investigates modern day alienation, the struggle to connect, and the dividing lines between individual identity, personal relationships, and societal pressures.Read More »

Ettore Scola’s dark, romantic tale of a woman so stubborn and passionate that nothing can dissuade her from pursuing the object of her affections.

When Captain Bachetti arrives at his new post in Northern Italy, he already resents the reassignment, which has separated him from his mistress, the exquisite Clara. And the situation becomes even more disturbing when this man with a taste for beautiful women finds himself subjected to the persistent attentions of the spectacularly ugly Fosca; everything about this brash, loud, impolite and unattractive creature fills him with horror.
But the Captain has never before encountered the transformative power of love.Read More »

This is an anti-Fascist short Rossellini made in 1940.

Quote:
La vispa Teresa was rejected and, although Ferrara said that Il tacchino was distributed by Scalera under its working title, “La perfida Albione,” there were no press notices, and no one outside of Scalera is known to have seen it. According to Ferrara, Rossellini told him it was a satire in which “Perfidious Albion,” a big turkey representing England, goes around pecking at the hens representing the nations of Europe, until defied by a rooster representing Italy. “Rossellini detested it,” said Ferrara, “[though his] genius was such that he could achieve extraordinary effects out of nothing. He used to tell me, ‘It’s the only time that, through my weakness, I made a work of propaganda.’”Read More »

PLOT:
This family drama by Monicelli features an impressive international cast: Liv Ullmann, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Noiret, Stefania Sandrelli and Bernard Blier, and it won a series of prestigeous film awards upon its release. It is a less comedic film, than most of Monicelli’s oeuvre up to this point, although the folly of the Italian male is still a central theme, as it had been in so many of his films from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.
In this case, a group of several generations of women are pulled together, when an accident strikes the padre familias (Noiret) that they all in various ways are, or have been, involved with. Thus, the second half of the film focusses on this group of very different women, and how they manage to relate to each other and get along, when they are faced with a series of serious challenges.Read More »

This documentary celebrates the 100th anniversary of the cinema birth. It is an historic running through the technical and artistic evolution of the 7th art. We move from mute to sound, from B&W to color, trough all the genders (musical, Lyric, politic…). Beside it we have a kind of resume of the historic contest in which cinema lived till now, events and movements (neo-realism, classical etc.). All the aspects are taken in consideration: fashion, star system till the end, the sad end, of cinema in the theaters.Read More »

Elena and Antonio are not made for each other: they are too different, in terms of character, life choices, worldview and the way they relate to others. They are total opposites. However they are overwhelmed by a mutual attraction that they should avoid. Not only because they are not compatible, but also because Elena is engaged to Giorgio, and Antonio is engaged to Silvia, who is Elena’s best friend. Plus Fabio, the young Elena’s best friend, hates Antonio because he is openly homophobic. Initially, between Elena and Antonio, there is physical attraction and this is the first real turbulence in Elena’s life. Everyone will have to deal with the unexpected in a sudden storm of passion that changes all the rules of the game of their relationships. However this will not be the only turbulence in Elena’s life…Read More »