A...B...CINEMA IN ITALY
TURIN PAYING HOMAGE TO CARLO LIZZANI FOR HIS EIGHTY YEARS

GIULIANO MONTALDO'S CHALLENGE TO THE AMERICAN CINEMA

MACISTE BY D'ANNUNZIO

PINA MENICHELLI: A DESPERATE GIRL

THE CITY OF FERRARA PAYING HOMAGE TO THE WRITER GIORGIO BASSANI

FRANCESCO MISIANO: AN ITALIAN PRODUCER IN THE SOVIET UNION

ROME IN THE THIRTIES - PETROLINI, BLASETTI AND IL SIGNOR BONAVENTURA

A.B.C...THE ITALIAN CINEMA - LOOK AT ME, I AM YOUR DIVA

FILMS ON CINEMA: BELLISSIMA BY LUCHINO VISCONTI

THE ITALIAN UNIVERSITY WORLD CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS OF ACTIVITY OF DAMS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

INFORMATICS OPERATORS FOR THE "SCUOLA NAZIONALE DI CINEMA" IN ROME

A.B.C...THE ITALIAN CINEMA: - CABIRIA

LA SCUOLA NAZIONALE DI CINEMA: A RESEARCH PROGRAM ON THE RELATION BETWEEN BOOKS AND CINEMA

THE NEW UNIVERSITY OF CINEMA AND TELEVISION: AN AWARD FOR CINEMA SCHOOLS

AN AWARD FOR INTERNET SHORT FILMS AND CLIPS

A.B.C... THE ITALIAN CINEMA - THE ORIGINS OF THE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

CINEMA AND YOUTHS:ANIMATHION 2001

THE "SCUOLA NAZIONALE DI CINEMA"

The Italian cinema: many youths abroad know nothing about it. Maybe just a few actors and films. They ignore the Italian film heritage which influenced many masters all over the world.
The scope of the following articles is to help Italian youths abroad to discover Italian cinema.(Italian Network)

TURIN PAYING HOMAGE TO CARLO LIZZANI FOR HIS EIGHTY YEARS

On occasion of Carlos Lizzani's eightieth birthday the city of Turin has paid homage to this famous movie director with a rich retrospective. The initiative has been promoted by the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Fondazione Scuola Nazionale di Cinema - Cineteca Nazionale and the Torino Film Festival. The program included several masterpieces by Lizzani among which "Banditi a Milano"- it won the David di Donatello in 1968. The film featured by a great Gian Maria Volonté boasted a wonderful sound track by Luis Bacalov.

Lizzani, born in Rome in 1922, started working as Roberto Rossellini's assistant in "Germania anno zero". His first film was the neo realistic work "Achtung! Banditi!" (1951).Since then he shot about forty films and his latest one, "Celluloide" dates back to 1996. Noteworthy also his documentary on Roberto Rossellini (2001).

The retrospective in Turin also included "Cronache di poveri amanti" (1953), "Il processo di Verona" (1962), "Mussolini ultimo atto" (1974) "Roma bene" (1971), "Storie di vita e malavita" (1975), "San Babila ore 20: un delitto inutile" (1976).
Further information: www.museonazionaledelcinema.org (10-11/Italian Network)

GIULIANO MONTALDO'S CHALLENGE TO THE AMERICAN CINEMA

13 million meters of films tell of Italy during the Fascist regime: behaviors, events, art… an extraordinary heritage kept at Istituto Luce that Giuliano Montaldo, director, actor, script writer discovered and revived in a documentary titled "Le stagioni dell'Aquila." A difficult period of the Italian history which is usually set aside.
"It is amazing to see Rome in those years, said Montaldo, the way it was described. And telling this historical period meant talking of Mussolini, of course - the eagle was the symbol of Mussolini.
The result is an hour and 45 minute long work that is to say 3,000 meters and many other films might have come out of this heritage, added Montaldo.

Montaldo started working in the Fifties as actor in the film by Carlo Zani but he was immediately fascinated by the wonders a camera could work. Then he started working as assistant with Lizzani, Petri. During his fifty years long career he shot films in Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, in China. He shot his first film in 1960 and he was also the president of RAI -Cinema.

According to Montaldo in order to compete with the American cinema market which owns 95% of the world market, it is necessary to create a European cinema corporation. As compared to the American big cinema industry, the European cinema is a sort of artisan lab of the Sixteenth century, stated Montaldo.

In Montaldo's opinion, black and white films with captions still have a future: a revolutionary idea which can upset the present standards. And in order to promote the Italian cinema abroad, it is necessary not only to enhance our past works- films by Visconti and Rossellini but also to improve the distribution market and to solve dubbing problems.(31/10-Italian Network)

MACISTE BY D'ANNUNZIO

At the beginning silent movies were a virgin, fantastic world inhabited by fascinating, unbelievable characters.
One of these characters was extremely successful. We are talking of Maciste.
Maciste embodies the mythological hero, a sort of powerful, good hearted god.

He was created by Gabriele D'Annunzio for the film Cabiria (1914), shot by Giovanni Pastrone. Maciste was featured by a huge man, a long shoreman, Bartolomeo Pagano (1878-1947), who in a short time became the star.
In 1916, Pastrone directed Maciste alpino a propaganda film on the war adventures of this giant. Maciste is a sort of weapon to strike back at enemies. Maciste is the hero also of sport, thriller and horror films.

Worth mentioning the film Maciste all'inferno (1926) on his journey to hell where our hero is killing plenty of devils and is challenging even Beelzebub. Pagano retired in 1928 at the age of fifty and Maciste was rediscovered in the Sixties.
The first film of the new serial was Maciste nella Valle dei Re (1960) by Carlo Campogalliani, an old director of silent movies, and in this case the film is set in Ancient Egypt. And actually this is the main characteristic of this genre: films can be set in any historical period.(Italian Network)

PINA MENICHELLI: A DESPERATE GIRL

In the Tens and in the Twenties, spectators loved, cried and the heroines were always pale, desperate, unlucky girls. The highlight of the film was the moment the heroine was lying in the bed ready to die.
These heroines are sort of saints who have experienced the evil and violence of the world.

As usual the good heroine had to cope with "black" soul, a libertine, a vampire, an ogre.
The star of this genre was Pina Menichelli (1890-1984). Born in a family of Sicilian amateur actors, she started her career in 1913 and she became in a short time the "diva" of Italia, a movie company of Turin.
Noteworthy her interpretation in Storia di una donna.

She is small, blonde, sensual, her skin is soft and white. Only one flaw: her thin, hooked nose. She is a good actress and in some shots she is even a wonderful, fascinating girl. This is what a film reviewer wrote on her.
Pina Menichelli retired in 1923.(Italian Network)

THE CITY OF FERRARA PAYING HOMAGE TO THE WRITER GIORGIO BASSANI

Memories are the key elements of Giorgio Bassani's novels. They are set in the city of Ferrara in the tidy bourgeois Jewish milieu and mainly in the Fascist period, during the racial persecutions.
Bassani, born in Bologna in 1916, graduated in Literature in 1939: during the war he fought for the "Resistenza" and in 1943 he moved to Rome. He was the curator of a series of books for Feltrinelli (he decided to publish the novel Il Gattopardo). In the Seventies, he stopped writing.

Bassani's novels are based on things and people, they tell of lost experiences and of forgotten loves.
His most accomplished work is Il romanzo di Ferrara: a collection of his best six novels and short stories.

His most famous novel is Il giardino dei Finzi Contini, published in 1962, where a young man tells of a rich Jewish family persecuted by Fascists and mainly of a girl, Micol, who refuses the banality of daily life and accepts her destiny without fighting. She is deported to Germany and there she disappears.

In 1970 Vittorio De Sica filmed Il giardino dei Finzi Contini, in disagreement with the author who didn't share his choices. Yet this is the best film by De Sica, an extremely intense film where characters are heading towards their tragic destiny. This elegant, delicate film was a hit and it was awarded an Oscar.

In 1987 Gli occhiali d'oro, another novel by Bassani, was filmed by Giuliano Montaldo. Set in the Thirties, the film tells of the tragedy of Athos Fadigati, a successful doctor who is discriminated for his homosexuality.
The film is intensively featured by Philippe Noiret (Fadigati).(Italian Network)

FRANCESCO MISIANO: AN ITALIAN PRODUCER IN THE SOVIET UNION

In the Twenties, Soviet Union is struck by famine, a consequence of the First World War and the revolution.
In this period, however, the Soviet cinema experienced its lucky moment thanks to the movie company Mezarbpom Film established by an Italian : Francesco Misiano (1884-1936).

Misiano, who had been forced to leave Italy because of his anti-Fascist activity, moved to Berlin where he met local intellectuals.
Through the cultural association Soccorso Rosso and namely some dailies and magazines, he started supporting European workers' movements.

In 1924 Misiano set up a cinema section and he started buying cinema equipment for the big theaters of Moscow.
And in the theaters of Moscow, Misano started producing entertaining and politically committed films.

The number of films produced by the company Mezrabpom Film is unbelievable:160 fictions and 240 documentaries.
Misiano's main film is Potomok Cinciz-Chana (Tempeste sull'Asia, 1928) directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin: one of the most important Soviet silent movie directors. It tells of a young Mongolian hunter who joins partisans to set his country free.
It is an epic-lyric work characterized by touching images: the desert of Gobi.(Italian Network)

ROME IN THE THIRTIES: PETROLINI, BLASETTI AND "SIGNOR BONAVENTURA"

Ettore Petrolini (Rome 1886 - 1926) is the actor who best represents Rome and its transformation: from a provincial town to the capital of Italy, a city full of "cafès chantants", cabarets and Futurist shows.

Petrolini started working with Peppe Jovinelli (mainly shows in Roman dialect) and ended up with Comèdie Française.
His first characters can be simple and funny (Giggi er bullo, Nerone, Gastone) but he can also tell us of the anthropological changes which were under way. Petrolini upsets rules, he amplifies and unveils always the funny side of the situation through his nonsense, rhymes, and word games.
Cabaret became then a reference point for Futurism too. This movement founded in Rome had also its political side: it pushed Italy to take part in the First World War and then it supported Fascism.
Futurism was interested also in the puppet shows. At the Teatro dei Piccoli, Sergio Tofano gave life to a legendary character: "Signor Bonaventura".

In this period, theater, too, was moving. In 1927, "Il Carro di Tespi" was established: a troupe which staged shows in provincial towns .
Alessandro Blasetti was the author of the first popular theater show 18BL.
Blasetti worked also with Petrolini, they shot togetherNerone (1930).

The fascist regime invested in cinema as it considered it a popular and modern way to communicate.
In 1937 Cinecittà was set up in Rome: the Italian cinema became an industry. (Italian Network)

A.B.C... THE ITALIAN CINEMA - LOOK AT ME I AM YOUR DIVA

In the first films, actors and actresses were not important and films were shot in tents and huts. In the Tens, however, the need of new plots influenced casting: it was necessary that each genre had its artists. And that led to the birth of the "stars" and of "divas".

And Italy was the country where stardom was born. The Italian cinema of the Tens was the reference point for the foreign cinema production. Unfortunately, the names of these actors mean nothing to us. Pina Menichelli's deep eyes and Leda Gys' fascinating glances, just to name two actresses, troubled thousands of men and created problems in many bourgeois couples.

The first obsession of our cinema were the divas of the silent movies: they embodied an unreachable woman, men desperately and tragically fell in love with.
Lyda Borelli, Pina Menichelli, Rina De Liguoro or Maria Jacobini are the first stars, women capable of enchanting people, of making them dream.

Despite their glamorous look, these women are fragile, jealous, mad, sad, sick, said the American reviewer Peter Delpeut. They interpreted always the same plot, based on the same leit-motif.
Hair was extremely important: to caress and to brush it in a certain way gave spectators indications on the kind of woman. To let it loose meant to lose control. It is a cinema made of bodies and senses.

Leda Gys, for instance, featured Maria in the film "Christus" (1916) by Giuliano Antamoro and her feverish eyes share nothing with mysticism.

The Italian cinema was the first to give women a key role. A kind of woman who, trying to express her sensuality refusing social rules, became a symbol of that modern age which is represented by cinema.(Italian Network)

FILMS ON CINEMA: BELLISSIMA BY LUCHINO VISCONTI

At the beginning of cinema history, spectators went to cinema to dream, to discover mysterious places.

Cinema changed reality, it could invent situations nobody could experience. Cinema with its instruments, mechanisms and its prospects of glory became soon a topic.

After the Second World War, Italians used movies as a way to forget, they waited for a new life by watching American and European films, and a different world came true on the screen.

This is the plot of Bellissima by Luchino Visconti (Milan 1906-1976). It tells of a housewife Maddalena, starred by Anna Magnani, who goes to the movie every night. Cinema is a way to escape from her boring life. One fine day, she learns that at Cinecittà Studios they are looking for a little girl for a film. Maddalena decides to take her child there.
The most interesting thing of this film is the portrait of the cinema environment of that time crowded by fake agents, poor actors, assistants and mostly by mothers who would do anything to see her child on the big screen.

Maddalena's dreams will be shattered but her relation with her child and her husband will not be destroyed.(Italian Network)

THE ITALIAN UNIVERSITY WORLD CELEBRATING THE THIRTY YEARS OF ACTIVITY OF DAMS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

In 1971, the degree course in art, music and show was established at the Department of Literature of the University of Bologna.

The course met the need of introducing a young, social culture in the university. In these thirty years, many intellectuals such as Eco, Barilli, Squarzina, Giuliano, Donatoni, Maldonado taught there and many other artists attended these courses such as Luciano Boerio (music), Leo De Berardinis (theater).

At present, over 7,500 students attend DAMS and at least 1,500 Italian and foreign youths join this university course every year.

Students attending Dams account for 50% of the students attending the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy. Professors teaching at Dams are mainly from the Department of Music and Show ( www.muspe.unibo.it).

In the Department of Music and Show, there are two sections where lab activities, shows, concerts are organized. Some of these groups are the Cimes, Centro di Musica e Spettacolo, La Soffitta, Centro di promozione teatrale. (Italian Network)

INFORMATICS OPERATORS FOR THE "SCUOLA NAZIONALE DI CINEMA" IN ROME

The "Scuola Nazionale di Cinema", the " Fondazione Scuola Nazionale di Cinema" in Rome is looking for a professional figure for its informatics section: system manager, to monitor the network systems of the foundation.
Candidates must have a high school certificate, they must be familiar with Windows NT and the backup and restore process. Fluent English and capacity to work in a team are also a must.

The Scuola Nazionale di Cinema is also looking for a "Hardware and Software operator", to install and control the informatics desks in the Fondazione.
Candidates must have a high school certificate, experience in installing and controlling PC on Windows/Intel and Apple. Good communication and capacity to work in a team are also essential.

CV can be forwarded to: Via Tuscolana, 1524 - 00173 - Roma Fax: 39 067211619; e-mail: servinf@snc.it.(Italian Network)

A.B.C... THE ITALIAN CINEMA - CABIRIA

If you have a look at any book dedicated to the cinema history you will undoubtedly find this film: Cabiria.

Cabiria is a major "colossal" which had a strong impact. It was directed by Giovanni Pastrone and it came out in 1914: it was a box office hit appreciated by spectators and film reviewers.

It is set during the Punic wars, and it tells of Filvio Axilla who together with the slave Maciste tries to set free the young Cabiria.

Posters of this film were everywhere in Italy: strange enough, the name of the director was not quoted. Only the writer of the captions was stressed: Gabriele D'Annunzio.

This detail indicates how the film was promoted: the name of D'Annunzio, in fact, meant culture.

Cabiria was distributed all around the world and it contributed to the rise of the colossal genre in the United States.

Worth mentioning the technical novelties introduced by the director: for the first time, the camera follows the actors and it creates a new dimension.(Italian Network)

LA SCUOLA NAZIONALE DI CINEMA: A RESEARCH PROGRAM ON THE RELATION BETWEEN CINEMA AND BOOKS

Since the very beginning, books have inspired films. The easiest way to fulfil the spectators' needs was to film a famous novel which made them laugh, cry, suffer…

In 1911, "Milan Films" produced L'inferno inspired to the book by Dante: a long, important, spectacular film.

The film which revived the "grandeur" of the national literature was shown at the Sorbonne and in other cultural centers.

Many writers started writing scripts such as the poet Guido Gozzano (183-1916).

The most astonishing case was Gabriele D'Annunzio who wrote the captions of the film Cabiria (directed by Giovanni Pastrone in 1914): his name guaranteed a high quality product and transformed the film into an artistic cultural work.

Worth mentioning also the work of Cesare Zavattini, the writer who paved the way to neo-realism.(Italian Network)

THE NEW UNIVERSITY OF CINEMA AND TELEVISION

Television direction, ad and clip direction, sound editing, planning of interactive texts for video-games, audiovisual production: these are the new topics of the New University of Cinema and Television. An innovative institution as compared to other cinema schools.

NUCTwas established in Rome in 1995 by several professionals (Carlo Lizzani, Ugo Pirro, Giuseppe and Pasqualino De Santis...). Since 1998, it is located in the Cinecittà Studios.

Worth mentioning, its interest in new digital technologies.

The NUCT communication sector allows to show the works of the students in festivals and to get in contact with audiovisual companies. The best students can thus attend stages in these companies.

NUCT organizes two year courses (altogether 1250 hours) reserved to Italian and foreign citizens (they must have a high school certificate) who are interested in learning innovative cinema technologies.

The course includes English lessons, seminars with important directors and operators working in this sector.
The course (5,000 dollars per year plus 100 dollars for the enrollment) starts in October and it ends in July.
Application forms must be presented from May 28 2001 through October 1.

Further information:www.nuct.com.(Italian Network)

AN AWARD FOR INTERNET SHORT FILMS AND CLIPS

NUCT is promoting in cooperation with the University of Cinema of Santa Monica and Cinecittà Holding, the Second International Student Award for the presentation of plaques from the New York Best internet and the Universidad del cinema de Buenos Aires NUCT.

The award is reserved to all cinema schools in the world and cinema university departments which will show in internet the best short films and the best internet clips made by their students.

Further information: award@nuct.co or www.nuct.com.(Italian Network)

A.B.C...THE ITALIAN CINEMA - THE ORIGINS OF THE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

If you can only quote the names of Federico Fellini, Roberto Benigni or Giuseppe Tornatore it means you "slept" during the last hundred years.

The Italian cinema has been the first to start industrial production and during the first twenty years of this century it was a reference point for European directors and producers.

In 1895, Filoteo Alberini (Orte 1865-Roma 1937) together with the Lumiere Brothers invented the "Kinografo", an instrument which could record and show images.
In 1906, Alberini set up in Rome "Cines" which will be one of the most important majors in Europe.

In these years, the Italian cinema defined its characteristics, its cultural reference points. In this period, cinema represented history, architecture, theater, melodrama. The camera became a powerful instrument capable of influencing people.

In 1911, "Milano Films" produced L'inferno, the first big film.
The film was shown at the Sorbonne in Paris and in other important sites in Europe. An extraordinary creative era started, films which revived the glory of the Roman and Italian history.

Many films on the Roman empire were shot and distributed worldwide such as Quo Vadis, Spartacus, Marcantonio e Cleopatra. In Germany, these films were called "kolossal". A word which gave life to a genre.(Italian Network)

CINEMA AND YOUTHS: ANIMATHION 2001

From March 24 through mid-May, some Italian cities (Turin, Milan, Rome, Bari and Palermo) are hosting "AnimatHion 2001" that is to say cinema seminars organized by the "Scuola Nazionale di Cinema" (Rome), the Regione Piemonte, and patronized by the Ministry of Education.

During these seminars which last five days, teams of youths shoot short cartoons on "Cinema and youths". They have to invent a story, to draw it, to create the stage design and to shoot it on an electronic means.
Each team is given a short sound track which has to be a sort of inspiration source for youths.

Films shot by youths will be shown during special happenings open to the public. The guests of honor of these events will be famous movie cartoonists: Maurizio Forestieri, Bruno Bozzetto, Guido Manuli, Giulio Gianini, Vincenzo Gianola.
Events will take place in Rome (April 18-26) at the Teatro 2 of the Scuola Nazionale di Cinema and in Bari (May 2-7) and in Palermo (May 10-15).

Participants will be assisted by the team of "Animathion", a Canadian company set up in Montreal in the Eighties by Andrè Leduc.

Further information: Scuola Nazionale di Cinema Fax: +39 067211619, e-mail: servinf@snc.it.(Italian Network)

THE "SCUOLA NAZIONALE DI CINEMA"

The Scuola Nazionale di Cinema (the former Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia) is the oldest cinema school.

The school, set up in 1935, was transformed in 1997 into a foundation.
At present, the school operates also a national film club.

Courses at this school (the first cinema school in the world together with that in Leningrad) started in 1935. This school is still one of the most appreciated worldwide.

Important artists attended it such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Francesca Archibugi, Marco Bellocchio, Liliana Cavani, Vittorio Cottafavi, Peter Del Monte, Giuseppe De Santis, Emidio Greco, Pietro Ingrao, Nanni Loy, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Francesco Maselli, Susanna Tamaro, Stefano Vanzina, Carlo Verdone, Paolo Virzì, Luigi Zampa, Clara Calamai, Claudia Cardinale, Raffaella Carrà, Dino De Laurentiis, Arnoldo Foà, Pietro Germi, Enrico Lo Verso, Domenico Modugno, Francesca Neri, Paola Pitagora, Stefano Satta Flores, Alida Valli, Iaia Forte, Roberto De Francesco, Stefania Rocca, Vittorio Storaro, etc.

Candidates must take a test and courses (reserved to 54 students yearly) last three years. There are courses on photography, editing, production, acting, direction, stage design, screen playing, furnishing, sound technique. The animation course has been set up this year (in Turin).

Students can be both from EU and non EU countries. Foreign candidates must take an exam in Italian (courses are in Italian).
It is necessary to have a high school certificate or a degree. There is no age limit. Possibility of scholarships.

>Further information on this year course: Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, fax 39 067211619; e-mail a nanni@snc.it.(Italian Network)