Carlo Lizzani

The story of Italian cinema under Fascism, a sophisticated film industry built around the founding of the Cinecittà studios and the successful birth of a domestic star system, populated by very peculiar artists among whom stood out several beautiful, magnetic, special actresses; a dark story of war, drugs, sex, censorship and tragedy.

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An account of the life and work of legendary cinematographer and director Carlo Di Palma (1925-2004) and an emotional journey through the great moments of cinema, from Italian neorealism to the masterpieces of Woody Allen.

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Documentary about the lost 1914 film "Sperduti nel buio". Film historian Denis Lotto journeys across Europe following the trail of the lost movie.

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This short film tells the story of the most important cinema trend that Italy has ever produced - Neo Realism. Born after the Second World War, this veritable cultural revolution rapidly became a boundless source of inspiration for movie-makers throughout the entire world. Even today it influences those wanting to produce quality movies characterized and identified as Italian products able to be exported as well. It is precisely one of the masters of this unique current rich in different personalities who introduces the story - Carlo Lizzani - whose 'lesson' reconstructs the birth and development of Neorealism in Italy. It combined innovative movie techniques with a new view based on a 'true' interpretation of reality. Due to its high cultural value, this short film was given the highest reknown of the Presidency of the Republic of Italy.

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Barbara, a waitress in a hotel, has the vice to remove objects from guests rooms. Francesco, a student, finally meets a girl known on internet who hides a secret to him. Fausto, a chemist, invented an unusual way to export drugs with the help of another man. Susanna, a woman marked by a deep pain, plans a revenge against the man who wasted her life. The vicissitudes of four characters cross each other in the Japan Hotel in 24 hours, the presentation day of Mr. Teddy, a new prototype of a speaking teddy bear.

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A documentary about director Valerio Zurlini. The "lost images" of the title are the movies Zurlini was never able to shoot: between 1962, the year he won the Golden Lion with Family Diary, and 1982, the year of his death, he directed only four features. The documentary features interviews with close collaborators (celebrated screenwriters Enrico Medioli and Nicola Badalucco) and some of his actors (Jacques Perrin and Claudia Cardinale).

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A new documentary film on Fellini's 'La Città del Donne' ('City of Women') directed by Dominique Maillet, featuring producer Renzo Rossellini, film historian Aldo Tassone, producer and film historian Carlo Lizzani, and Federico Fellini's assistant Dominique Delouche (1955-1960).

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A labor of love documentary, in which a daughter, with the help of various talking heads, looks back on the life work of her father.

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This portrait of the Italian director & actor, Pietro Germi, explores his work, from Italian neorealism to the birth of the Italian comedy. He constructed his movies in a conventional way but also experimented new path. His favorite actresses such as Clau

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Based upon Vincenzoni's biography, "Pane e cinema", the documentary traces the story of the screen play writer who invented many stories that became blockbusters throughout the world.

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Macchie solari (Autopsy), L'etrusco uccide ancora (The Etruscan kills again), commandos are titles that refer to a category for lovers, that of B-movies, Italian thriller of the '60s and' 70s. But in the life and in the poetry of their director, Armando Crispino, there is more, says his son Francesco. Searching for a meeting with his father in the maze of his production, he finds himself investigating the world of Italian genre cinema. Finding that even in this area left in the shadows by the critical discourse we can find more, and better, than we think.

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The epic of Hercules and Maciste to the live voices of witnesses and through the images of the Italian film journals. And through interviews with Carlo Lizzani, Enrico Lucherini, Citto Maselli, Rosalba Neri, Mimmo Palmara, Carlo Verdone.

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Looks back at the Sciuscià, its success abroad, its influence on later filmmakers, its Oscar win, and the social conditions at the time of its production.

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Television documentary about the making of Roberto Rossellini's 1945 film "Rome, Open City".

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Documentary about the anthology film Love and Anger (1969) with interviews with Carlo Lizzani (director of the segment "L'indifferenza"), Marco Bellocchio (director of the segment "Discutiamo, discussamo"), Maurizio Ponzi (assistant director of the segment " La sequenza del fiore di carta," by Pier Paolo Pasolini), and Roberto Perpignani (editor of the segment "Agonia," by Bernardo Bertolucci).

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"Western all'italiana" is a documentary produced and broadcast by the satellite broadcaster Studio Universal in 2004, on the occasion of the broadcasting of a selection of Italian western films, the so-called "spaghetti westerns". In the course of the video, the birth, evolution and conclusion of the Italian western trend is told.

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A chronological look at the creative life of Luchino Visconti (1906-1976). It examines his theatricality, role in the neorealist movement, use of melodrama, and relation to decadence. It touches on the impact of a fabulously wealthy childhood, his writing for "Cinema," his politics, his work with Renoir, his appreciation of Thomas Mann, and his deep knowledge of literature and the arts. Visconti moves constantly between film and the theater, staging plays provocatively, working with Maria Callas at La Scala, and shooting films in theaters. Clips from his films and interviews with actors, crew members, and critics provide details for this portrait of creativity.

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This is a two-part Italian television mini-series directed by Giorgio Capitani and broadcasted in April 2002 on Rai Uno. It is the life story of Pope John XXIII, nicknamed "the good Pope".

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The life and work of one of the great masters of Italian cinema, Sergio Leone (1929-89); a rich and fascinating portrait through unpublished testimonies of collaborators, actors, directors and critics who reconstruct every aspect of his creative activity.

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Documentary about master director Roberto Rossellini, who tells details of his life and childhood and visits the places where he has lived and shot some of his most famous movies.

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Documentary about the life and works of Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini.

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A profile of the film director Roberto Rossellini, looking at his life, personality and films, following his career and his relationship with Ingrid Bergman.

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A film of Enrico Berlinguer's funeral in Rome, briefly tracing his career as leader of the Italian Communist Party.

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Based on the story of real life Sardinian bandit Graziano Mesina.

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A detective is assigned to head a manhunt for four violent bank robbers.

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A neorealist tribute to the Italian resistance fighters of World War II.

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This short film tells the story of the most important cinema trend that Italy has ever produced - Neo Realism. Born after the Second World War, this veritable cultural revolution rapidly became a boundless source of inspiration for movie-makers throughout the entire world. Even today it influences those wanting to produce quality movies characterized and identified as Italian products able to be exported as well. It is precisely one of the masters of this unique current rich in different personalities who introduces the story - Carlo Lizzani - whose 'lesson' reconstructs the birth and development of Neorealism in Italy. It combined innovative movie techniques with a new view based on a 'true' interpretation of reality. Due to its high cultural value, this short film was given the highest reknown of the Presidency of the Republic of Italy.

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A documentary about film director Luchino Visconti

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Collective film for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with 30 directors each helming a segment about one of the 30 articles of the Declaration.

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How will the Germans react to the armistice of the 8th of September 1943, due to which Italy betrays them and sides with the allied forces? This is the distressing questions that a group of 16 Italian - Greek Jews evacuated at The Meina Hotel ask themselves.

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In 1847, Milan was ruled by the Austrians, commanded by Marshal Radetzky. The Milanese people were exhausted by the lack of freedom, and when an Italian cardinal was appointed to the Milanese curia, they took to the streets in celebration, with no intention of revolt. But the celebrations were stopped by the Austrians with harsh and cruel repression.

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A chronological look at the creative life of Luchino Visconti (1906-1976). It examines his theatricality, role in the neorealist movement, use of melodrama, and relation to decadence. It touches on the impact of a fabulously wealthy childhood, his writing for "Cinema," his politics, his work with Renoir, his appreciation of Thomas Mann, and his deep knowledge of literature and the arts. Visconti moves constantly between film and the theater, staging plays provocatively, working with Maria Callas at La Scala, and shooting films in theaters. Clips from his films and interviews with actors, crew members, and critics provide details for this portrait of creativity.

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Maria Josè was the daughter of the king of Belgium and she was betrothed to Umberto di Savoia, the son of Vittorio Emanuele III, the king of Italy. The movie tells her story from her teens, when she was a Red Cross nurse during World War I until her exile in 1946.

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June 1944. In the newly liberated Rome, Roberto Rossellini and Sergio Amidei decide, against all odds, to make an unprecedented, true-to-life film on the tragic events that occurred during the Nazi occupation: Rome, Open City .

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Russia, 1937. Nicolai Bukharin and his wife Anna Mikhailovna Larina are living through a tragedy in their apartment. The husband fears that he will be arrested for political reasons and asks his wife to memorize a denunciation document so that he can destroy it. The characters, who really existed, were rehabilitated in 1988 under Mikhail Gorbachev.

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The young noble Don Monza is caught and thrown out by the nun Virginia de Leva when she catches him flirting with one of her nun sisters across the stone wall between their gardens. He hears the rumor that she'd have an affair with her trustee - so he kills him in a set-up duel and aims to take his place. Against her initial resistance, Monza manages to win her heart - and to get into her bed. This doesn't stay a secret for long, but Monza, now in love, does everything to keep it going.

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Based on the story of the woman recently brought to trial on charges of moral plagiarism and witchcraft.

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Girolamo, a teenager from a good family suffering from bone tuberculosis, is hospitalized in a sanatorium where he is forced to suffer the harassment of his rough roommate, sadistically backed by an Austrian nurse. To alleviate his suffering a little will be the tender friendship with Polly, a sweet English girl.

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Fontamara is a village in the Marsica, forgotten by all but God and its inhabitants are called 'cafoni' (boors). Berardo Viola wants to marry Elvira but only after gaining enough money to buy some land and in order to reach his aim he has the idea of going to a great city. When Maria Grazia is raped by the fascists, Berardo and Antonio decide to leave Fontamara and go to Rome. Here they are swindled by a lawyer and afterwards they are invited by an antifascist to a restaurant where they are arrested by the police because of some subversive papers they had.

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A quartet of young neo-Fascists terrorise the Milanise locals while the Police mostly look the other way.

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A drama about several teenage girls from different backgrounds who are drawn to prostitution and enter a world of violence and abuse that is almost impossible to leave behind.

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In 1945, the dictator of fascist Italy and Hitler's close ally Benito Mussolini faces defeat. In a desperate attempt to avoid capture, he tries to flee the country with his lover Claretta Petacci, but Italian partisans are on their tail.

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A parade of corrupt and sleazy characters in the high society of Rome.

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Based on the story of real life Sardinian bandit Graziano Mesina.

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Five short stories with contemporary settings. In New York, people are indifferent to derelicts sleeping on sidewalks, to a woman's assault in front of an apartment building, and to a couple injured in a car crash. A man, stripped of his identity, dies in bed with actors expressing his agony. A cheerful, innocent young man walking a city street in a time of war pays a price for this innocence. A couple talks about cinema while it watches another couple talk of love and truth on the eve of one character's return to Cuba. Striking students take over a university classroom; an argument follows about revolution or incremental change.

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Sicily, 1865. Two peasants, Gramigna and his father are tricked by Baron Nardò and robbed of their field, which then the baron lets to Assunta, her daughter Gemma and her fiancé Ramarro. Determined to take revenge, Gramigna begins to hunt down Nardò's complicit mediators. Unbeknownst to Gramigna, Gemma, to escape her arranged marriage, goes after him. Love and violence will follow all till their desperate ends.

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A thinly-disguised biography of African leader Patrice Lumumba, here called Lalubi. Lalubi, a Christ-like leader determined to save his people, by passive resistance, from the dictatorial regime propped up by European colonialists, is imprisoned and tortured, along with a thief who comes to a greater understanding through his contact with Lalubi.

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A detective is assigned to head a manhunt for four violent bank robbers.

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A Mexican community is slaughtered by Confederate troops; the lone survivor, a boy, is taken in by a preacher. Years later, the boy is now a soft-spoken, devout young man with perfect shooting skills (despite being a pacifist). On his journey to help his half-sister out of a complicated situation, he crosses paths with the men who killed his family, unbeknownst to him.

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A petty hoodlum pulls jewellery store heists in broad daylight. The cop on his tail knows he has accomplices and focuses on the gangster's girl friend is his attempt to catch him.

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Three episodes of varying pitch and quality. In the first a maid plans the elimination of her lover's wife with him, but she doesn't enjoy the fruits of victory. In the second (The patrol) a soldier of the Foreign Legion neglects his duties for running after a prostitute. The third segment has as its protagonist a general of the belle époque that goes on a date.

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Luciano Bianchi lives with his wife and son in the small town of Guastalla. As an intellectual and bibliophile, he works as head of cultural initiatives at a mining plant.

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Rome 1943. The German Commandant of the city causes a turmoil in the Jewish community by offering them what seems to be an expensive way out of imprisonment and death.

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A Roman nobleman, Horatius leads an imperial legion during the long and bloody war between the Romans and the Albans. A desperate arrangement is agreed on how to settle the war. Three valiant brothers are chosen from each side to fight one last fierce and bloody duel...

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Alvaro Cosenza, also known as the Hunchback from Quarticciolo, during Rome's occupation by Nazis in 1943, decides to revolt.

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Achilles, a Hulot-like factotum for an evening newspaper, travels around looking for a scoop in the Milan of the "economic miracle."

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A team of highly trained Italian seamen are taken to the island of Stampalia where there are to take their torpedo-laden attack craft on a daring attack on the port of Suda.

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Florence, Italy, 1925, during the fascist dictatorship. In order to live near his girlfriend Bianca, young Mario moves to a humble street in the old city center, where he befriends Maciste and Ugo, two anti-fascists.

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Based on real events, in Rome a lawyer is not sure whether to accept defending a lower-class worker wrongly accused of the murder of his girlfriend.

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During the winter of 1944, the partisans stationed in the Ligurian Apennines must go to a factory in Genoa, in order to pick up a delivery of weapons. Meanwhile, there's a strike in the city and the Nazis are trying to suppress it violently. The factory becomes the scene of fighting between the Germans and the partisans but the latter, aided by the workers, will be able to get the better.

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