A Close Look at Lesser Studied Italian Cinematic Works of Art

Italy is often associated with cuisine, wine, beautiful places and, alas, organized crime, overlooking the nation’s contribution to the development of cinema. From the innovations of neorealism, the visual landscapes of the sixties and seventies, to passionate political engagement, comedy and experimental forms and themes, Italian cinema has consistently been at the forefront of the most important developments in filmmaking. Over the course of this six-week program we will study the range of thematic, stylistic, social, political, and aesthetic qualities that have characterized over one-hundred-years of Italian Cinema, through a close examination of great films that are less well known and studied. For interested students we can work together in designing a project on a specific topic that can be developed in collaboration analyzing several films on a specific topic across various decades. (For example: Americanization – War – Westerns- Representation of women – relationships – internal immigration – minorities – Meridione – families – honor – crime – urbanization – the boom – vacations - poverty – unemployment – terrorism – corruption - mafia) -