The cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Since its beginning, Italian cinema has influenced film movements worldwide. 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. As of 2018, Italian films have won 14 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, one Academy Award for Best Picture and many Golden Lions and Golden Bears.
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.
Cinecittà Studios is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres, it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios were constructed during the Fascist era as part of a plan to revive the Italian film industry.
The Walls of Malapaga (Italian: Le mura di Malapaga, French: Au-delà des grilles, is a 1949 French-Italian drama film directed by René Clément and starring Jean Gabin, Isa Miranda and Andrea Checchi. It was a co-production made by Francinex and Italia Produzione, produced by Alfredo Guarini from a screenplay by Cesare Zavattini, Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Alfredo Guarini adapted by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost. The music score was by Roman Vlad and the cinematography by Louis Page. It was made at the Farnesina Studios of Titanus in Rome with sets designed by the art director Piero Filippone and Luigi Gervasi.
Commedia all'italiana, or Italian-style comedy, is an Italian film genre born in Italy in the 1950s and developed in the 1960s and 1970s. It is widely considered to have started with Mario Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street in 1958, and derives its name from the title of Pietro Germi's Divorce Italian Style (1961). According to most of the critics, La Terrazza (1980) by Ettore Scola is the last work considered part of the commedia all'italiana.
Un uomo da bruciare is a 1962 Italian drama film. It is the first feature film directed by Valentino Orsini and Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.
Sun is a 1929 Italian silent drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Marcello Spada, Vasco Creti and Dria Paola. The film was set around the planned draining of the Pontine Marshes by Benito Mussolini's Fascist government. It was shot partly on location, which added a sense of realism. Mussolini was impressed by the result and described it as "the dawn of the Fascist film".
Aldebaran is a 1935 Italian drama film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and starring Gino Cervi, Evi Maltagliati and Gianfranco Giachetti. The film was a naval melodrama, an attempt by Blasetti to make a more commercial film following the difficulties encountered with the propagandist The Old Guard (1934).
The Man with a Cross is a 1943 Italian war film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Alberto Tavazzi, Roswita Schmidt and Attilio Dottesio. It was the final part of Rossellini's "Fascist trilogy" following The White Ship (1941) and A Pilot Returns (1942). It is loosely inspired by Reginaldo Giuliani, an Italian military chaplain who had been killed on active service.
Girl of the Golden West is a 1942 Italian western film directed by Carl Koch and starring Michel Simon, Isa Pola and Rossano Brazzi. It is based on the 1936 novel, La Dame de l'Ouest, by Pierre Benoit. It was made at the Scalera Studios in Rome, and on location in Lazio countryside. The film's title alludes to the opera The Girl of the Golden West by Giacomo Puccini, but is not an adaptation of it. It was one of only a handful of Westerns to be made during the silent and Fascist eras, in a genre in which Italy later became famous.
Red Shirts is a 1952 French-Italian historical drama film directed by Goffredo Alessandrini and Francesco Rosi and starring Anna Magnani, Raf Vallone and Alain Cuny. The title refers to the historical Redshirts. It is also known as Anita Garibaldi. The film portrays the life of Anita Garibaldi (1821–1849), the wife of Italian unification leader Giuseppe Garibaldi.
The Telephone Operator is a 1932 Italian comedy film directed by Nunzio Malasomma and starring Isa Pola, Mimì Aylmer and Luigi Cimara. It was a remake of the German film Wrong Number, Miss, released the same year.
In High Places is a 1943 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Soldati and starring Adriana Benetti, Massimo Serato and Nerio Bernardi. It is based on a play by Jean Anouilh. The film portrays the rise into high society of an immoral young man. It belongs to the movies of the calligrafismo style.
Lucrezia Borgia is a 1940 Italian historical film directed by Hans Hinrich and starring Isa Pola, Friedrich Benfer and Carlo Ninchi. The film portrays the life of Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519), one of a number of Italian films of the era set during the Renaissance. It was made at the Scalera Studios in Rome.
Anthony of Padua is a 1949 Italian historical drama film directed by Pietro Francisci and starring Aldo Fiorelli, Silvana Pampanini and Carlo Giustini. The film portrays the life of Anthony of Padua (1195–1231).
Vera Bergman was a German stage and film actress known for her roles in Italian films. Bergman died in 1971.
Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche (ENIC) was an Italian film production and distribution entity that operated between 1935 and 1956.
Ragazzo is a 1934 Italian lost film directed by Ivo Perilli. The film was censored by the Italian government, and its only known copy was subsequently looted by German soldiers in 1944 and has not resurfaced.
