Cinema of Italy

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Cinema of Italy
A collage of notable Italian actors and filmmakers[a]
No. of screens3,217 (2013)[1]
 • Per capita5.9 per 100,000 (2013)[1]
Main distributorsMedusa Film (16.7%)
Warner Bros. (13.8%)
20th Century Studios (13.7%)[2]
Produced feature films (2018)[3]
Total273
Fictional180
Documentary93
Number of admissions (2018)[3]
Total85,900,000
 • Per capita1.50 (2012)[4]
National films19,900,000 (23.17%)
Gross box office (2018)[3]
Total€555 million
National films€128 million (23.03%)

The cinema of Italy (Italian: cinema italiano, pronounced [ˈtʃiːnema itaˈljaːno]) comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Italy is one of the birthplaces of art cinema and the stylistic aspect of film has been one of the most important factors in the history of Italian film.[5][6] As of 2018, Italian films have won 14 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film (the most of any country) as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, one Academy Award for Best Picture and many Golden Lions and Golden Bears.

The history of Italian cinema began a few months after the

Fascist government provided financial support for the nation's film industry, notably the construction of the Cinecittà studios (the largest film studio in Europe), it also engaged in censorship, and thus many Italian films produced in the late 1930s were propaganda films
.

The end of World War II saw the birth of the influential Italian neorealist movement, which reached vast audiences throughout the post-war period,[11] and which launched the directorial careers of Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini, and Vittorio De Sica. Neorealism declined in the late 1950s in favour of lighter films, such as those of the Commedia all'italiana genre and directors like Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni. Actresses such as Sophia Loren, Giulietta Masina, Claudia Cardinale, Monica Vitti, Anna Magnani and Gina Lollobrigida achieved international stardom during this period.[12] From the mid-1950s to the end of the 1970s, Commedia all'italiana and many other genres arose due to auteur cinema, and Italian cinema reached a position of great prestige both nationally and abroad.[13][14] The Spaghetti Western achieved popularity in the mid-1960s, peaking with Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy, which featured enigmatic scores by composer Ennio Morricone, which have become icons of the Western genre. Italian thrillers, or giallo, produced by directors such as Mario Bava and Dario Argento in the 1960s and 1970s, influenced the horror genre worldwide. During the 1980s and 1990s, directors such as Ermanno Olmi, Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuseppe Tornatore, Gabriele Salvatores and Roberto Benigni brought critical acclaim back to Italian cinema.[12]

The

Ministry of Cultural Heritage a list of a 100 films that have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978: the "100 Italian films to be saved
".

History

1890s

Video of Sua Santità papa Leone XIII ("His Holiness Pope Leo XIII"), the most famous film by Vittorio Calcina, the first Italian film director in history, shot on 26 February 1896[16]

The first Italian director is considered to be

kinetograph," a shooting and projecting device not unlike that of the Lumière brothers.[12][19]

Video of Il finto storpio al Castello Sforzesco ("The fake cripple at the Castello Sforzesco") by Italo Pacchioni (1896)

The Lumière brothers commenced public screenings in Italy in 1896.

Pitti Palace in Florence.[24] Interested in experimenting with the new medium, they were filmed in Florence and on the day of their wedding in at the Pantheon in Rome.[25][26]

1900s

The logo of Cines, with the Capitoline Wolf in the centre

In the early 20th century, the phenomenon of itinerant cinemas developed throughout Italy.

swindler who has the task of promoting and enriching the story.[28]

Between 1903 and 1909 the itinerant Italian cinema began assuming the characteristics of an authentic industry, led by four major organizations:

film production company;[29] the largest and among the most famous film houses in Italy,[30] founded by Gustavo Lombardo at Naples in 1904, Cines, based in Rome; and the Turin-based companies Ambrosio Film and Itala Film.[21] Other companies soon followed in Milan, and these early companies quickly attained a respectable production quality and were able to market their products both within Italy and abroad. Early Italian films typically consisted of adaptations of books or stage plays, such as Mario Caserini's Otello (1906) and Arturo Ambrosio's 1908 The Last Days of Pompeii. Also popular during this period were films about historical figures, for instance Ugo Falena
's Lucrezia Borgia (1910).

Video of La presa di Roma ("The Capture of Rome") by Filoteo Alberini (1905, six minute version)

In 1905, Cines inaugurated the genre of the

historical film. One of the first of these films was La presa di Roma (1905), lasting 10 minutes, and made by Filoteo Alberini. The operator employs for the first time actors of theatrical origin. The film, assimilating Manzoni's lesson of making historical fiction plausible, reconstructs the Capture of Rome on 20 September 1870. Dozens of characters from texts make their appearance on the big screen such as The Count of Monte Cristo and Giordano Bruno, among others.[21]

1910s

Lost in the Dark by Nino Martoglio (1914), considered a precursor to the Italian neorealism movement of the 1940s and 1950s.[12]
history of cinema
Cabiria (1914), the first epic film
ever made

In the 1910s, the Italian film industry developed rapidly.

drama film directed by Nino Martoglio, documented life in the slums of Naples, and is considered a precursor to the Italian neorealism movement of the 1940s and 1950s.[12]

The archetypes of the historical blockbuster genre were The Last Days of Pompeii (1908), by Arturo Ambrosio and Luigi Maggi and Nero (1909), by Maggi and Arrigo Frusta.[33] Enrico Guazzoni's 1913 film Quo Vadis was one of the first blockbusters, using thousands of extras and a lavish set design.[34] The international success of the film marked the maturation of the genre and allowed Guazzoni to make increasingly spectacular films such as Antony and Cleopatra (1913) and Julius Caesar (1914). Giovanni Pastrone's 1914 film Cabiria was an even larger production; it was the first epic film ever made and it is considered the most famous Italian silent film.[31][35] Pastrone's plan to adapt the Bible with thousands of extras remained unfulfilled, but Antamoro's Christus (1916) and Guazzoni's The Crusaders (1918) were notable films with Christian subjects.

Many films were devoted to the investigative and mystery formats. The most prolific production houses in the 1910s were Cines, Ambrosio Film, Itala Film, Aquila Films, and Milano Films. Classic narrative elements of the silent proto-giallo (mystery, crime, investigation investigative and final twist) constitute the structural aspects of cinematic representation.

Cenere by Febo Mari (1917)

Between 1913 and 1920 there was the rise, development and decline of the phenomenon of cinematographic stardom, born with the release of

Il fuoco (1915), by Giovanni Pastrone, Rapsodia satanica (1917), by Nino Oxilia and Cenere (1917), by Febo Mari, changed the model away from naturalism in favor of melodramatic acting, pictorial gesture and theatrical pose, all favored by the extensive use of close-up.[36][37]

The most successful comedian in Italy was

Marcel Fabre (Robinet), Ernesto Vaser (Fricot) and many others. Ferdinand Guillaume became famous with the stage name of Polidor.[38] Protagonists of Italian comedians never place themselves in open contrast with society or embody the desire for social revenge (as happens for example with Charlie Chaplin), but rather tried to integrate into a strongly desired world.[39]

(1917)

German Expressionist cinema.[42] Its cultural importance was considerable and influenced all subsequent avant-gardes, as well as some authors of narrative cinema; its echo expands to the dreamlike visions of some films by Alfred Hitchcock.[43] Futurism emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city. Its key figures were the Italians Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Fortunato Depero, Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla, and Luigi Russolo. It glorified modernity and aimed to liberate Italy from the weight of its past.[44]

The 1916 Manifesto of Futuristic Cinematography was signed by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Armando Ginna, Bruno Corra, Giacomo Balla and others. To the Futurists, cinema was an ideal art form, being a fresh medium, and able to be manipulated by speed, special effects and editing. Most of the futuristic-themed films of this period have been lost, but critics cite

German Expressionist cinema in the following decade. The Italian film industry struggled against rising foreign competition in the years following World War I.[12] Several major studios, among them Cines and Ambrosio, formed the Unione Cinematografica Italiana to coordinate a national strategy for film production. This effort was largely unsuccessful, however, due to a wide disconnect between production and exhibition; some movies were not released until several years after they were produced.[45]

1920s

'A Santanotte by Elvira Notari (1922)
Sun by Alessandro Blasetti (1929)

With the end of World War I, Italian cinema suffered from production disorganization, increased costs, technological backwardness, loss of foreign markets and inability to cope with Hollywood.[46] The first half of the 1920s marked a sharp decrease in production, from 350 films produced in 1921 to 60 in 1924.[47]

The main causes included the lack of a generational change with a production still dominated by filmmakers and producers of literary training, such that literature and theatre were still preferred media. Sentimental cinema for women spread, centred on figures on the margins of society. It was conservative cinema, tied to social rules upset by the war and in the process of dissolution throughout Europe. An exemple is A Woman's Story (1920) by Eugenio Perego, which is a 19th-century morality with melodramatic tones.[48]

A new genre developed in a realist setting, like work by the first female director of Italian cinema, Elvira Notari,[49] and Lost in the Dark (1914) by director Nino Martoglio.[50]

The revival of Italian cinema took place at the end of the 1920s. The productions were larger in scale and addressed peasant topics, hitherto practically absent in Italian cinema. Sun (1929) by Alessandro Blasetti reflects influence from Soviet and German avant-gardes.[51] The movement was above all an emancipation from literary models and a turn to more popular taste.

1930s

The Song of Love by Gennaro Righelli (1930), the first Italian talking picture

The sound cinema arrived in Italy in 1930, three years after the release of

Fascist government.[12]

The first Italian talking picture was The Song of Love (1930) by Gennaro Righelli, which was a great success with the public. Alessandro Blasetti also experimented with the use of an optical track for sound in the film Resurrection (1931), shot before The Song of Love but released a few months later.[52] Similar to Righelli's film is What Scoundrels Men Are! (1932) by Mario Camerini, which has the merit of making Vittorio De Sica debut on the screens. Historical films such as Blasetti's 1860 (1934) and Carmine Gallone's Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal (1937) were also popular during this period.[12]

With the transition to sound cinema, most of the Italian silent film actors, still linked to theatrical stylization, find themselves disqualified. The era of divas, dandies and strongmen, who barely survived the 1920s, is definitely over. Even if some performers will move on to directing or producing, the arrival of sound favours the generational change and the consequent modernization of the structures.

Italian-born director Frank Capra received three Academy Awards for Best Director for the films It Happened One Night (1934, the first Big Five winner at the Academy Awards), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and You Can't Take It with You (1938).

In 1932, the Venice Film Festival was established. It is today the world's oldest film festival. Alongside the Cannes and Berlin Festivals, it is has shaped film history.[53][54][55][56]

Cinecittà

Entrance to the Cinecittà in Rome, the largest film studio in Europe[57]

In 1934, the Fascist Italian government created the General Directorate for Cinema (Direzione Generale per la Cinematografia) and appointed Luigi Freddi its director. A town was developed southeast of Rome devoted exclusively to cinema and dubbed the Cinecittà ("Cinema City"). The project was clearly aware of film's value as a propaganda tool.[58][59][60]

Mussolini himself inaugurated the studios on 28 April 1937.[61] Films such as Scipio Africanus (1937) and The Iron Crown (1941) showcased the technological capacities of the studios. Seven thousand people were involved in filming a battle scene from Scipio Africanus, and live elephants were brought in as a part of the re-enactment of the Battle of Zama.[62] The Cinecittà studios were Europe's most advanced production facilities and greatly boosted the technical quality of Italian films.[12] Many films are still shot entirely in Cinecittà.[63]

Telefoni Bianchi

Department Store by Mario Camerini (1939)

During the 1930s, light comedies known as

Gino Carlo Sensani and Antonio Valente) established themselves by working on Telefoni films.[64][65]

The first film of the genre Telefoni Bianchi was The Private Secretary (1931), by Goffredo Alessandrini.[66] Others include Schoolgirl Diary (1941) and A Thousand Lire a Month (1939).

Fascist propaganda

The Old Guard by Alessandro Blasetti (1934)

One of the major films of Italian fascist propaganda cinema was Black Shirt (1933), by Giovacchino Forzano, made for the 10th anniversary of the March on Rome. With political consolidation, government authorities required the film industry to focus more on Italy's history and culture. This trend reached its peak just before the war with Cavalry (1936), by Goffredo Alessandrini, evoking the nobility of the Savoy fighters from the Risorgimento as anticipations of Fascist squads. Condottieri (1937) by Luis Trenker, tells the story of Giovanni delle Bande Nere as a sort of parallel with Benito Mussolini. Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal (1937) was one of the greatest financial efforts of the time: it implicity compares the Roman Empire to the Fascist Empire.[67]

The invasion of Ethiopia gave Italian directors the opportunity to extend the horizons of the settings.[68] Both The Great Appeal (1936) and Lo squadrone bianco (1936) exalt imperialism. The Spanish Civil War is described most spectacularly in The Siege of the Alcazar (1940).[67]

Men of the Mountain by Aldo Vergano (1943)

1940s

Propaganda

With Italy's participation in World War II, the fascist regime further strengthens its control over production and requires a more decisive commitment to propaganda. In addition to the now canonical documentaries, short films and newsreels, there is also an increase in feature films in praise of Italian war efforts. Among the most representative are Bengasi (1942) by Genina, Gente dell'aria (1943) by Esodo Pratelli, The Three Pilots (1942) by Mario Mattoli (based on a screenplay by Vittorio Mussolini), Il treno crociato (1943) by Carlo Campogalliani, Harlem (1943) by Carmine Gallone and Men of the Mountain (1943) by Aldo Vergano under the supervision of Blasetti. Uomini sul fondo (1941) by Francesco De Robertis is also notable due to its almost documentary approach.[69]

The most successful film of the period is We the Living (1942) by Goffredo Alessandrini, made as a single film, but then distributed in two parts due to its excessive length. Referable to the genre of anti-communist drama, this sombre melodrama (set in the Soviet Union) is inspired by the novel of the same name by the writer Ayn Rand which exalts philosophical individualism.[70]

Among the directors who give their contribution to the war propaganda, there is also Roberto Rossellini, author of a trilogy composed of The White Ship (1941), A Pilot Returns (1942) and The Man with a Cross (1943). Anticipating in some ways his works of maturity, the director adopted a modest and immediate style, which does not contrast the effectiveness of the propaganda but neither does it exalt the dominant war rhetoric; it was the same anti-spectacular approach to which he remained faithful throughout his life.[70]

Calligrafismo

Tragic Night by Mario Soldati (1942)

Calligrafismo is in sharp contrast to Telefoni Bianchi-American style comedies and is rather artistic, highly formalistic, expressive in complexity and deals mainly with contemporary literary material,[71] above all the pieces of Italian realism from authors like Corrado Alvaro, Ennio Flaiano, Emilio Cecchi, Francesco Pasinetti, Vitaliano Brancati, Mario Bonfantini and Umberto Barbaro.[72]

The best-known exponent of this genre is Mario Soldati, a long-time writer and director destined to establish himself with films of literary ancestry and solid formal structure. His films put at the centre of the story characters endowed with a dramatic and psychological strength foreign to both white-phone cinema and propaganda films, and found in works such as Dora Nelson (1939), Piccolo mondo antico (1941), Tragic Night (1942), Malombra (1942) and In High Places (1943). Luigi Chiarini, already active as a critic, deepens the trend in his Sleeping Beauty (1942), Street of the Five Moons (1942) and The Innkeeper (1944). The internal conflicts of the characters and the scenographic richness are also recurrent in the first films by Alberto Lattuada (Giacomo the Idealist, 1943) and Renato Castellani (A Pistol Shot, 1942), dominated by a sense of moral and cultural decay that seems to anticipate the end of the war.

Another important example of a calligraphic film is the film version of The Betrothed (1941), by Mario Camerini (very faithful in the staging of Manzoni's masterpiece), which due to the perceived income, became the most popular feature film between 1941 and 1942.[73]

Animation

Bruno Bozzetto

The pioneer of the Italian cartoon was Francesco Guido, better known as Gibba. Immediately after the end of World War II, he produced the first animated medium-length film of Italian cinema entitled L'ultimo sciuscià (1946), which took up themes typical of neorealism and in the following decade the feature films Rompicollo and I picchiatelli, in collaboration with Antonio Attanasi.[74]

In 1949, the designer Nino Pagot presented The Dynamite Brothers at the Venice Film Festival, one of the first animated feature films of the time, released in theatres in conjunction with La Rosa di Bagdad (1949), made by the animator Anton Gino Domeneghini.[74]

Neorealism

Vittorio De Sica, a leading figure in the neorealist movement and one of the world's most acclaimed and influential filmmakers of all time.[75]

By the end of World War II, the Italian "neorealist" movement had begun to take shape. Neorealist films typically dealt with the working class (in contrast to the Telefoni Bianchi), and were shot on location. Many neorealist films, but not all, used non-professional actors. Though the term "neorealism" was used for the first time to describe Luchino Visconti’s 1943 film, Ossessione, there were several important precursors to the movement, most notably Camerini's What Scoundrels Men Are! (1932), which was the first Italian film shot entirely on location, and Blasetti's 1942 film, Four Steps in the Clouds.[76]

Roberto Rossellini and Mario Monicelli winning the Golden Lion for General Della Rovere and The Great War respectively.

Ossessione angered Fascist officials. Upon viewing the film, Vittorio Mussolini is reported to have shouted, "This is not Italy!" before walking out of the theatre.

Neorealist works such as Roberto Rossellini's trilogy Rome, Open City (1945), Paisà (1946), and Germany, Year Zero (1948), with professional actors such as Anna Magnani and a number of non-professional actors, attempted to describe the difficult economic and moral conditions of postwar Italy and the changes in public mentality in everyday life. Visconti's The Earth Trembles (1948) was shot on location in a Sicilian fishing village and used local non-professional actors. Giuseppe De Santis, on other hand, used actors such as Silvana Mangano and Vittorio Gassman in his 1949 film, Bitter Rice, which is set in the Po Valley during rice-harvesting season.

Poetry and cruelty of life were harmonically combined in the works that Vittorio De Sica wrote and directed together with screenwriter Cesare Zavattini: among them, Shoeshine (1946), The Bicycle Thief (1948) and Miracle in Milan (1951). The 1952 film Umberto D. showed a poor old man with his little dog, who must beg for alms against his dignity in the loneliness of the new society. This work is perhaps De Sica's masterpiece and one of the most important works in Italian cinema.[78] It was not a commercial success[78] and since then it has been shown on Italian television only a few times. Yet it is perhaps the most violent attack, in the apparent quietness of the action, against the rules of the new economy, the new mentality, the new values, and it embodies both a conservative and a progressive view.[78]

1950s

Massimo Girotti e Lucia Bosè in Story of a Love Affair by Michelangelo Antonioni (1950)

Starting from the mid-1950s, Italian cinema began tackling purely existential topics, films with different styles and points of view, often more introspective than descriptive.[80]

Michelangelo Antonioni is the first to establish himself, becoming a reference author for all contemporary cinema.[81] This charge of novelty is recognizable from the beginning as the director's first work, Story of a Love Affair (1950), marks an indelible break with the world of neorealism and the consequent birth of a modern cinema.[81] Antonioni investigated the world of the Italian bourgeoisie with a critical eye, left out of the post-war cinematic lens. In doing so, works of psychological research such as I Vinti (1952), The Lady Without Camelias (1953) and Le Amiche (1955), free adaptation of the short story Tra donne sole by Cesare Pavese, came to light. In 1957, he staged the unusual proletarian drama Il Grido, with which he obtained critical acclaim.

In 1955, the David di Donatello was established, with its Best Picture category being awarded for the first time only in 1970. Named after Donatello's David, a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance,[82] are film awards given out each year by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (The Academy of Italian Cinema). Although Umberto D. is considered the end of the neorealist period, later films such as Federico Fellini's La Strada (1954) and De Sica's 1960 film Two Women (for which Sophia Loren won the Oscar for Best Actress) are grouped with the genre. Director Pier Paolo Pasolini's first film, Accattone (1961), shows a strong neorealist influence.[76] Italian neorealist cinema influenced filmmakers around the world, and helped inspire other film movements, such as the French New Wave and the Polish Film School. The Neorealist period is often simply referred to as "The Golden Age" of Italian cinema by critics, filmmakers, and scholars. In the early 1950s, the cartoonist Romano Scarpa created the short film La piccola fiammiferaia (1953), which remains, like the two previous films, little more than an isolated case. Apart from these examples, Italian animation in the 1950s and 1960s failed to become a major reality and remains confined to the television sector, due to the various commissions provided by the Carosello container.[83][84]

Totò in Toto and the King of Rome by Mario Monicelli and Steno (1952)

At this time, on the more commercial side of production, the phenomenon of Totò, a Neapolitan actor who is acclaimed as the major Italian comic, exploded. His films (often with Aldo Fabrizi, Peppino De Filippo and almost always with Mario Castellani) expressed a sort of neorealistic satire, in the means of a guitto (a "hammy" actor) as well as with the art of the great dramatic actor he also was.[85] Totò is one of the symbols of the cinema of Naples.[86]

Pink neorealism

Pane, amore e fantasia by Luigi Comencini
(1953)

Although Umberto D. is considered the end of the neorealist period, subsequent works turned toward lighter, sweetened and mildly optimistic atmospheres, more coherent with the improving conditions of Italy just before the economic boom; this genre became known as pink neorealism.

The precursor of pink neorealism was Renato Castellani, who helped bring realist comedy into vogue with Under the Sun of Rome (1948) and It's Forever Springtime (1949), both shot on location and with non-professional actors, and above all with public success and criticism of Two Cents Worth of Hope (1952), which laid the foundations for pink neorealism.[87]

Poveri ma belli by Dino Risi (1957)

Notable films of pink neorealism, which combine popular comedy and realist motifs, are

Pane, amore e fantasia (1953) by Luigi Comencini and Poveri ma belli (1957) by Dino Risi, both works are in perfect harmony with the evolution of the Italian costume.[88] The large influx at the box office from the two films remained almost unchanged in the sequels Bread, Love and Jealousy (1954), Scandal in Sorrento (1955) and Pretty But Poor
(1957), also directed by Luigi Comencini and Dino Risi.

Similarly, stories of daily life told with gentle irony (without losing sight of the social fabric) can be found in the work of the Milanese Luciano Emmer, whose films Sunday in August (1950), Three Girls from Rome (1952) and High School (1954), are the best-known examples. Another film of the pink neorealism genre was Susanna Whipped Cream (1957) by Steno.[89]

This trend allowed some actresses to become real celebrities, such as

, a unique genre that, born on an ideally humouristic line, talked instead very seriously about important social themes.

Don Camillo and Peppone

Gino Cervi and Fernandel in Don Camillo: Monsignor by Carmine Gallone (1961)

A series of black-and-white films based on

The Little World of Don Camillo (1952), The Return of Don Camillo (1953), Don Camillo's Last Round (1955), Don Camillo: Monsignor (1961), and Don Camillo in Moscow
(1965).

The movies were a huge commercial success in their native countries. In 1952, Little World of Don Camillo became the highest-grossing film in both Italy and France,[90] while The Return of Don Camillo was the second most popular film of 1953 at the Italian and French box office.[91]

Hollywood on the Tiber

American film Ben-Hur by William Wyler (1959) was shot at the Cinecittà studios and on location around Rome.

Hollywood on the Tiber is a phrase used to describe the period in the 1950s and 1960s when the Italian capital of Rome emerged as a major location for international filmmaking attracting many foreign productions to the Cinecittà studios, the largest film studio in Europe.[57] By contrast to the native Italian film industry, these movies were made in English for global release. Although the primary markets for such films were American and British audiences, they enjoyed widespread popularity in other countries, including Italy.

In the late 1940s, Hollywood studios began to shift production abroad to Europe. Italy was, along with Britain, one of the major destinations for American film companies. Large-budget films shot at Cinecittà during the "Hollywood on the Tiber" era such as Quo Vadis (1951), Roman Holiday (1953), Ben-Hur (1959), and Cleopatra (1963) were made in English with international casts and sometimes, but not always, Italian settings or themes.

The heyday of what was dubbed '"Hollywood on the Tiber" was between 1950 and 1970, during which time many of the most famous names in world cinema made films in Italy. The phrase "Hollywood on Tiber", a reference to the river that runs through Rome, was coined in 1950 by Time magazine during the making of Quo Vadis.[92]

Sword-and-sandal (a.k.a. Peplum)

Hercules by Pietro Francisci (1958)

Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget Hollywood historical epics of the time.[93]

With the release of 1958's Hercules, starring American bodybuilder Steve Reeves, the Italian film industry gained entree to the American film market. These films were low-budget costume/adventure dramas, and had immediate appeal with both European and American audiences. Besides the many films starring a variety of muscle men as Hercules, heroes such as Samson and Italian fictional hero Maciste were common.

Sometimes dismissed as low-quality escapist fare, the sword-and-sandal allowed newer directors such as Sergio Leone and Mario Bava a means of breaking into the film industry. Some, such as Mario Bava's Hercules in the Haunted World (Italian: Ercole Al Centro Della Terra) are considered seminal works in their own right. Most sword-and-sandal films were in colour, whereas previous Italian efforts had often been black and white.

1960s

Marcello Mastroianni in (1963) by Federico Fellini, considered to be one of the greatest films of all time[94]

Best Foreign Language Film, the most for any director in the history of the academy. He received an honorary award for Lifetime Achievement at the 65th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. His other well-known films include La Strada (1954), Nights of Cabiria (1957), Juliet of the Spirits (1967), Satyricon (1969), Roma (1972), Amarcord (1973), and Fellini's Casanova (1976). La Dolce Vita contributed the term paparazzi to the English language, derived from Paparazzo, the photographer friend of journalist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni).[95]

It is with Bruno Bozzetto that the Italian cartoon reaches an international dimension: his debut feature film West and Soda (1965), an irresistible caricature of the Western genre, received acclaim from both audiences and critics.[74] A few years later his second work entitled VIP my Brother Superman was released, distributed in 1968.

From left to right, Franco and Ciccio

Franco and Ciccio were a comedy duo formed by Italian actors Franco Franchi (1928–1992) and Ciccio Ingrassia (1922–2003), particularly popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Together, they appeared in 116 films, usually as the main characters, and occasionally as supporting characters in films featuring well-known actors such as Totò, Domenico Modugno, Vittorio Gassman, Buster Keaton and Vincent Price.[96] The two made their cinema debut in 1960 with the film Appuntamento a Ischia.[97][98]

Musicarelli

Al Bano and Romina Power in Nel sole by Aldo Grimaldi (1967)

Musicarello (pl. musicarelli) is a film subgenre which emerged in Italy and which is characterised by the presence in main roles of young singers, already famous among their peers, and their new record album. The genre began in the late 1950s, and had its peak of production in the 1960s.[99]

The film which started the genre is considered to be

I ragazzi del Juke-Box by Lucio Fulci (1959).[100] The musicarelli were inspired by two American musicals, in particular Jailhouse Rock by Richard Thorpe (1957) and earlier Love Me Tender by Robert D. Webb (1956), both starring Elvis Presley.[101][102][103]

At the heart of the musicarello is a hit song, or a song that the producers hoped would become a hit, that usually shares its title with the film itself and sometimes has lyrics depicting a part of the plot.[104] In the films there are almost always tender and chaste love stories accompanied by the desire to have fun and dance without thoughts.[105] Musicarelli reflect the desire and need for emancipation of young Italians, highlighting some generational frictions.[101]

With the arrival of the

1968 student protests the genre started to decline, because the generational revolt became explicitly political and at the same time there was no longer music equally directed to the whole youth audience.[106] For some time the duo Al Bano and Romina Power continued to enjoy success in musicarello films, but their films (like their songs) were a return to the traditional melody and to the musical films of the previous decades.[106]

Commedia all'Italiana

Divorce Italian Style by Pietro Germi (1961)

La Terrazza by Ettore Scola (1980) is the last work considered part of the Commedia all'italiana.[109][110][111]

Rather than a specific genre, the term indicates a period (approximately from the late 1950s to the early 1970s) in which the Italian film industry was producing many successful comedies, with some common traits like satire of manners, farcical and grotesque overtones, a strong focus on "spicy" social issues of the period (like sexual matters, divorce, contraception,

middle-class setting, often characterized by a substantial background of sadness and social criticism that diluted the comic contents.[112]

Be Sick... It's Free by Luigi Zampa (1968)

The genre of Commedia all'italiana differs markedly from the light and disengaged comedy from the so-called "pink neorealism" trend, in vogue until all of the 1950s, since, starting from the lesson of neorealism, is based on a more frank adherence in writing to reality; therefore, alongside the comic situations and plots typical of traditional comedy, always combines, with irony, a biting and sometimes bitter satire of manners, which reflects the evolution of Italian society in those years.[112]

My Friends by Mario Monicelli (1975)

The success of films belonging to the "Commedia all'italiana" genre is due both to the presence of an entire generation of great actors, who knew how to masterfully embody the vices and virtues, and the attempts at emancipation but also the vulgarities of the Italians of the time, both to the careful work of directors, storytellers and screenwriters, who invented a real genre, with essentially new connotations, managing to find precious material for their cinematographic creations in the folds of a rapid evolution with many contradictions.[112]

Among the actors the main representatives are

Profumo di donna (Scent of a Woman). Monicelli's works include La grande guerra (The Great War), I compagni (The Organizer), L'armata Brancaleone, Vogliamo i colonnelli (We Want the Colonels), Romanzo popolare (Come Home and Meet My Wife) and the Amici miei (My Friends
) series.

Spaghetti Western

Sergio Leone, widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema.[115][116]

On the heels of the sword-and-sandal craze, a related genre, the Spaghetti Western arose and was popular both in Italy and elsewhere. These films differed from traditional westerns by being filmed in Europe on limited budgets, but featured vivid cinematography. The term was used by foreign critics because most of these westerns were produced and directed by Italians.[117]

The most popular Spaghetti Westerns were those of Sergio Leone, credited as the inventor of the genre,[118][119] whose Dollars Trilogy (1964's A Fistful of Dollars, an unauthorized remake of the Japanese film Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa; 1965's For a Few Dollars More, an original sequel; and 1966's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a World-famous prequel), featuring Clint Eastwood as a character marketed as "the Man with No Name" and notorious scores by Ennio Morricone, came to define the genre along with Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

Giallo

Mario Bava, referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror"[120] and the "Master of the Macabre".[121]
Dario Argento, referred to as the "Master of the Thrill"[122] and the "Master of Horror".[123]

During the 1960s and 1970s, Italian filmmakers

Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971), Deep Red (1975) and Suspiria
(1977).

Giallo is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers and often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements.[124] Giallo developed in the mid-to-late 1960s, peaked in popularity during the 1970s, and subsequently declined in commercial mainstream filmmaking over the next few decades, though examples continue to be produced. It was a predecessor to, and had significant influence on, the later American slasher film genre.[125]

Giallo usually blends the atmosphere and suspense of

thriller fiction with elements of horror fiction (such as slasher violence) and eroticism (similar to the French fantastique genre), and often involves a mysterious killer whose identity is not revealed until the final act of the film. Most critics agree that the giallo represents a distinct category with unique features,[126] but there is some disagreement on what exactly defines a giallo film.[127]

The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Mario Bava (1963), considered by most critics to be the first giallo film.[128]

Giallo films are generally characterized as gruesome murder-mystery thrillers that combine the suspense elements of detective fiction with scenes of shocking horror, featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and often jarring musical arrangements. The archetypal giallo plot involves a mysterious, black-gloved psychopathic killer who stalks and butchers a series of beautiful women.[129] While most gialli involve a human killer, some also feature a supernatural element.[130]

The protagonists are generally or often unconnected to the murders before they begin and are drawn to help find the killer through their role as witnesses to one of the murders.[130] The mystery is the identity of the killer, who is often revealed in the climax to be another key character, who conceals his or her identity with a disguise (usually some combination of hat, mask, sunglasses, gloves, and trench coat).[131] Thus, the literary whodunit element of the giallo novels is retained, while being filtered through horror genre elements and Italy's long-standing tradition of opera and staged grand guignol drama. The structure of giallo films is also sometimes reminiscent of the so-called "weird menace" pulp magazine horror mystery genre alongside Edgar Allan Poe and Agatha Christie.[132]

Social and political cinema

The auteur cinema of the 1960s included an authorial vision that was less surreal and existential and more political; it sought to denounce corruption and malfeasance,[133] both in politics and industry.

Gian Maria Volonté and Florinda Bolkan in Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion by Elio Petri (1970)

In 1962, Francesco Rosi[134] inaugurated an investigation film project retracing, through a series of long flashbacks, the life of a Sicilian criminal, the title figure in Salvatore Giuliano. The following year he directed Rod Steiger in Hands over the City (1963); this film was a denuciation of corruption in real estate and construction companies in Naples. The film was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

1970s

Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren in A Special Day by Ettore Scola (1977)

In the 1970s the work done by the director Lina Wertmüller was influential. Together with actors Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato, she made several films and with Seven Beauties (1976), she obtained four nominations for the Academy Awards. That made her the first woman to be nominated for best director.[135]

Mozart
's opera.

After many satirical short films (centred on the popular figure of "Signor Rossi") Bruno Bozzetto returned to the feature film with what is considered[

Allegro Non Troppo (1977). Inspired by Disney's Fantasia, it is a mixed media film, in which animated episodes are combined with classical music pieces. Another notable illustrator was Pino Zac who in 1971 shot (again with mixed technique) The Nonexistent Knight, based on the novel of the same name by Italo Calvino
.

One of Francesco Rosi's most famous films of denunciation is The Mattei Affair (1972), a documentary into the mysterious disappearance of Enrico Mattei. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It became (together with Illustrious Corpses (1976)) a model for similar denunciation films produced both in Italy and abroad. Famous films of denunciation by Elio Petri are The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971), a corrosive denunciation of life in the factory (winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes) and Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970). The latter (accompanied by a soundtrack by Ennio Morricone) is a dry psychoanalytic thriller centred on the aberrations of power.[137] The film won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film the following year.

Poliziotteschi

Caliber 9 by Fernando Di Leo (1972)

Poliziotteschi (plural of poliziottesco) films constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as polizieschi all'italiana, Euro-crime, Italo-crime, spaghetti crime films', or simply Italian crime films.

Influenced by both 1970s

socio-political turmoil in Italy
and increasing Italian crime rates.

The films generally featured graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption. The protagonists were generally tough working-class loners, willing to act outside a corrupt or overly bureaucratic system.[139] Notable international actors who acted in this genre of films include Alain Delon, Henry Silva, Fred Williamson, Charles Bronson, Tomas Milian and others.

Bud Spencer and Terence Hill

Bud Spencer and Terence Hill in They Call Me Trinity by Enzo Barboni (1970)

Also considered Spaghetti Westerns is a film genre which combined traditional western ambience with a

Mario Girotti
.

Terence Hill and Bud Spencer made numerous films together.[140] Most of their early films were Spaghetti Westerns, beginning with God Forgives... I Don't! (1967), the first part of a trilogy, followed by Ace High (1968) and Boot Hill (1969), but they also starred in comedies such as ... All the Way, Boys! (1972) and Watch Out, We're Mad! (1974).

The next films shot by the couple of actors, almost all comedies, were Two Missionaries (1974), Crime Busters (1977), Odds and Evens (1978), I'm for the Hippopotamus (1979), Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure (1981), Go for It (1983), Double Trouble (1984), Miami Supercops (1985) and Troublemakers (1994).

Commedia sexy all'italiana

La moglie vergine by Marino Girolami (1975)

erotic film with ample slapstick
elements which follow more or less clichéd storylines.

During this time, commedia sexy all'italiana films, described by the film critics of the time as not artistic or "trash films", were very popular in Italy. Today they are widely re-evaluated and have become cult movies. They also allowed the producers of Italian cinema to have enough revenue to produce successful artistic films. These comedy films were of little artistic value and reached their popularity by confronting Italian social taboos, most notably in the sexual sphere. Actors such as Lando Buzzanca, Lino Banfi, Renzo Montagnani, Alvaro Vitali, Gloria Guida, Barbara Bouchet and Edwige Fenech owe much of their popularity to these films.

Fantozzi

Paolo Villaggio as Ugo Fantozzi in Fantozzi by Luciano Salce (1975)

The films starring Ugo Fantozzi, a character invented by Paolo Villaggio for his television sketches and newspaper short stories, also fell within the comic satirical comedy genre.[142] Although Villaggio's movies tend to bridge comedy with a more elevated social satire, this character had a significant impact on Italian society, to such a degree that the adjective fantozziano entered the lexicon.[143] Ugo Fantozzi represents the archetype of the average Italian of the 1970s, middle-class with a simple lifestyle with the anxieties common to an entire class of workers,[144] being re-evaluated by critics.[145] Of the many films telling of Fantozzi's misadventures, the most notable and famous were Fantozzi (1975) and Il secondo tragico Fantozzi (1976), both directed by Luciano Salce.

Sceneggiata

Sgarro alla camorra by Ettore Maria Fizzarotti (1973)

The sceneggiata (pl. sceneggiate) or sceneggiata napoletana is a form of musical drama typical of Naples. Beginning as a form of musical theatre after World War I, it was also adapted for cinema; sceneggiata films became especially popular in the 1970s, and contributed to the genre becoming more widely known outside Naples.[146] The most famous actors who played dramas were Mario Merola, Mario Trevi, and Nino D'Angelo.[147]

The sceneggiata can be described as a "musical soap opera", where action and dialogue are interspersed with

Neapolitan dialect, although, especially in film production, Italian
has sometimes been preferred, to reach a larger audience.

Sgarro alla camorra (i.e. "Offence to the Camorra", 1973), written and directed by Ettore Maria Fizzarotti and starring Mario Merola at his film debut, is regarded as the first sceneggiata film and as a prototype for the genre.[148][149]

1980s

Ennio Morricone composed over 500 scores for cinema and television since 1946.[150]

The 1980s was a period of decline for Italian filmmaking. In 1985, only 80 films were produced (the least since the postwar period)

Hollywood
films, which steadily took over, while many other cinemas closed.

Among the major artistic films of this era were

Non ci resta che piangere, directed by and starring both Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi
, is a cult movie in Italy.

Carlo Verdone, actor, screenwriter and film director, is best known for his comedic roles in Italian classics, which he also wrote and directed. His career was jumpstarted by his first three successes, Un sacco bello (1980), Bianco, rosso e Verdone (1981) and Borotalco (1982). Francesco Nuti began his professional career as an actor in the late 1970s, when he formed the cabaret group Giancattivi together with Alessandro Benvenuti and Athina Cenci. Starting in 1985, he began to direct his movies, scoring an immediate success with the films Casablanca, Casablanca and All the Fault of Paradise (1985), Stregati (1987), Caruso Pascoski, Son of a Pole (1988), Willy Signori e vengo da lontano (1990) and Women in Skirts (1991).

The

cinepanettoni (singular: cinepanettone) are a series of farcical comedy films, one or two of which are scheduled for release annually in Italy during the Christmas period. The films were originally produced by Aurelio De Laurentiis' Filmauro studio.[154]
For the majority of critics the "Commedia all'italiana" waned from the beginning of the 1980s, giving way to an "Commedia italiana" ("Italian comedy").[155]

1990s

Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi

The economic crisis that emerged in the 1980s began to ease over the next decade.[156] Nonetheless, the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons marked an all-time low in the number of films made, in the national market share (15 per cent), in the total number of viewers (under 90 million per year) and in the number of cinemas.[157] The effect of this industrial contraction was the disappearance of Italian genre cinema in the middle of the decade, as it was no longer able to compete with the contemporary big Hollywood blockbusters (mainly due to the enormous budget differences).

The most noted film of the period is

Mediterraneo
won the same prize in 1991.

Il Postino: The Postman (1994), directed by the British Michael Radford and starring Massimo Troisi, received five nominations at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Troisi, and won for Best Original Score. In 1998 Roberto Benigni won three Oscars for his movie Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella).

Leonardo Pieraccioni made his directorial debut with The Graduates (1995).[158] In 1996 he directed his breakthrough film The Cyclone, which grossed Lire 75 billion at the box office.[159][160] In the 1990s, Italian animation entered a new phase of production due to the Turin Lanterna Magica studio which in 1996, under the direction of Enzo D'Alò, created the Christmas fairy tale La freccia azzurra, based on a short story by Gianni Rodari. The film was a success and paved the way for other feature films. In fact, in 1998, Lucky and Zorba based on a novel by Luis Sepúlveda was distributed, which attracted the favour of the public.[161]

2000s

The Italian film industry regained stability and critical recognition. In 1995, 93 films were produced,

The Beast in the Heart (La bestia nel cuore) by Cristina Comencini
.

In 2008

crime drama film, directed by Matteo Garrone won the Gran Prix at the Cannes Film Festival
. The director Enzo d'Alò produced other films in the following years such as Momo (2001) and Opopomoz (2003). The Turin studio distributed on its behalf the films Aida of the Trees (2001) and Totò Sapore e la magica storia della pizza (2003), accompanied by a good response at the box office. In 2003, the first entirely Italian animated film in computer graphics was released: L'apetta Giulia and Signora Vita, directed by Paolo Modugno.[165]

2010s

Perfect Strangers (2016) by Paolo Genovese was included in the Guinness World Records as the most remade film in cinema history, with a total of 18 remakes.[166]

Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2010, the first Italian animated film in 3D was made, directed by Iginio Straffi, entitled Winx Club 3D: Magical Adventure, based on the homonymous series; in the meantime Enzo D'Alò returned to theatres, presenting his Pinocchio (2012). Cinderella the Cat (2017), taken from the text Pentamerone by Giambattista Basile, won two David di Donatello's, one of which was for special effects, becoming the first animated film to be nominated, and win, in this category.

The two highest-grossing Italian films in Italy have both been directed by Gennaro Nunziante and starred Checco Zalone: Sole a catinelle (2013) with €51.8 million, and Quo Vado? (2016) with €65.3 million.[167][168] They Call Me Jeeg, a 2016 critically acclaimed superhero film directed by Gabriele Mainetti and starring Claudio Santamaria, won eight David di Donatello, two Nastro d'Argento, and a Globo d'oro.

Gianfranco Rosi's documentary film Fire at Sea (2016) won the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.

Other successful 2010s Italian films include:

Romanzo criminale - La serie), Youth (La giovinezza) by Paolo Sorrentino, Suburra by Stefano Sollima, Perfect Strangers (Perfetti sconosciuti) by Paolo Genovese, Mediterranea and A Ciambra by Jonas Carpignano, Italian Race (Veloce come il vento) and The First King: Birth of an Empire (Il primo re) by Matteo Rovere, and Tale of Tales (Il racconto dei racconti), Dogman and Pinocchio
by Matteo Garrone.

and the nomination for Best Picture in 2018.

Perfect Strangers by Paolo Genovese was included in the Guinness World Records as it became the most remade film in cinema history, with a total of 18 versions.[166]

2020s

Successful 2020s Italian films include: The Life Ahead by Edoardo Ponti, Hidden Away by Giorgio Diritti, Bad Tales by Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo, The Predators by Pietro Castellitto, Padrenostro by Claudio Noce, Notturno by Gianfranco Rosi, The King of Laughter by Mario Martone, A Chiara by Jonas Carpignano, Freaks Out by Gabriele Mainetti, The Hand of God by Paolo Sorrentino, Nostalgia by Mario Martone, Dry by Paolo Virzì, The Hanging Sun by Francesco Carrozzini, Bones and All by Luca Guadagnino, L'immensità by Emanuele Crialese, Robbing Mussolini by Renato De Maria, Adagio by Stefano Sollima, There's Still Tomorrow by Paola Cortellesi, Last Night of Amore by Andrea Di Stefano, The First Day of My Life by Paolo Genovese, Thank You Guys by Riccardo Milani, Io capitano by Matteo Garrone, A Brighter Tomorrow by Nanni Moretti and Comandante by Edoardo De Angelis.

100 Italian films to be saved

Everybody Go Home by Luigi Comencini (1960)

The list of the

Ministry of Cultural Heritage
.

The list was edited by Fabio Ferzetti,[169] film critic of the newspaper Il Messaggero, in collaboration with film director Gianni Amelio and the writers and film critics Gian Piero Brunetta, Giovanni De Luna, Gianluca Farinelli, Giovanna Grignaffini, Paolo Mereghetti, Morando Morandini, Domenico Starnone and Sergio Toffetti.[170][171]

Cinematheques

film archive in Bologna. It was founded in 1962.[177]

Museums

The Mole Antonelliana in Turin, which houses the National Museum of Cinema

The

film genres.[179]

The

Padova
.

The Cinema Museum of

kinetograph".[180] The Milan Cinema Museum, managed by the Cineteca Italiana, is divided into three sections, the precinema, animation cinema and "Milan as a film set", as well as multimedia and interactive stations.[181]

The Catania Cinema Museum exhibits documents concerning cinema, its techniques and its history, particularly the link between cinema and Sicily.[182] The Cinema Museum of Syracuse collects more than 10,000 exhibits on display in 12 rooms.[183]

Italian Academy Award winners

Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, the most for any director.[184]

After the United States and the United Kingdom, Italy has the most

Academy Awards
wins.

Italy is the most awarded country at the

nominations
. Winners with the year of the ceremony:

Sophia Loren and Eleonora Brown in Two Women by Vittorio De Sica (1960)

In 1961, Sophia Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women. She was the first actress to win an Academy Award for a performance in any foreign language, and the second Italian leading lady Oscar-winner, after Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo. In 1998, Roberto Benigni was the first Italian actor to win the Best Actor for Life Is Beautiful.

Italian-born filmmaker Frank Capra won three times at the Academy Award for Best Director, for It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and You Can't Take It with You. Bernardo Bertolucci won the award for The Last Emperor, and also Best Adapted Screenplay for the same movie.

Ennio De Concini, Alfredo Giannetti and Pietro Germi won the award for Best Original Screenplay for Divorce Italian Style. The Academy Award for Best Film Editing was won by Gabriella Cristiani for The Last Emperor and by Pietro Scalia for JFK and Black Hawk Down
.

Dino De Laurentiis produced more than 500 films.[185]

The award for Best Original Score was won by Nino Rota for The Godfather Part II; Giorgio Moroder for Midnight Express; Nicola Piovani for Life is Beautiful; Dario Marianelli for Atonement; and Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight. Giorgio Moroder also won the award for Best Original Song for Flashdance and Top Gun.

The Italian winners at the Academy Award for Best Production Design are Dario Simoni for Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago; Elio Altramura and Gianni Quaranta for A Room with a View; Bruno Cesari, Osvaldo Desideri and Ferdinando Scarfiotti for The Last Emperor; Luciana Arrighi for Howards End; and Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for The Aviator, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Hugo.

The winners at the Academy Award for Best Cinematography are: Tony Gaudio for Anthony Adverse; Pasqualino De Santis for Romeo and Juliet; Vittorio Storaro for Apocalypse Now, Reds and The Last Emperor; and Mauro Fiore for Avatar.

The winners at the Academy Award for Best Costume Design are Piero Gherardi for La dolce vita and ; Vittorio Nino Novarese for Cleopatra and Cromwell; Danilo Donati for The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, and Fellini's Casanova; Franca Squarciapino for Cyrano de Bergerac; Gabriella Pescucci for The Age of Innocence; and Milena Canonero for Barry Lyndon, Chariots of Fire, Marie Antoinette and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi won three Oscars: one Special Achievement Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for King Kong[186] and two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects for Alien[187] (1979) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[188] The Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling was won by Manlio Rocchetti for Driving Miss Daisy, and Alessandro Bertolazzi and Giorgio Gregorini for Suicide Squad.

Sophia Loren, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Dino De Laurentiis, Ennio Morricone, and Piero Tosi also received the Academy Honorary Award.

Festivals and film awards

The Association of Italian Film Festivals (AFIC; Italian: Associazione Festival italiani di cinema) is the peak body for film festivals held in Italy.[189][190]

Directors

Actors and actresses

See also

  • Media of Italy
  • Cinema of the world
  • History of cinema
  • 100 Italian films to be saved
  • List of actors from Italy
  • List of actresses from Italy
  • List of film directors from Italy
  • List of Italian movies
  • List of highest-grossing films in Italy

Notes

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Bibliography

External links