History of Italian Cinema

The Cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy, or by Italian directors. Since the development of the Italian film industry in the early 1900s, Italian filmmakers and performers have, at times, experienced both domestic and international success, and have influenced film movements throughout the world. As of 2013, Italian films have won 13 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, the most of any country, as well as 12 Palmes d’Or, the second-most of any country.

Early Italian films were typically adaptations of books or stage plays. By the 1910s, Italian filmmakers were utilizing complex set designs, lavish costumes, and record budgets, to produce pioneering films such as Enrico Guazzoni’s Quo Vadis (1912) and Giovanni Pastrone’s Cabiria (1914). One of the first cinematic avante-garde movements, Italian Futurism, took place in Italy in the late 1910s. After a period of decline in the 1920s, the Italian film industry was revitalized in the 1930s with the arrival of sound film. A popular Italian genre during this period, the Telefoni Bianchi, consisted of comedies with glamorous backgrounds.

While Italy’s Fascist government provided financial support for the nation’s film industry, most notably the construction of the Cinecittà studios, it also engaged in censorship, and thus many Italian films produced in the late 1930s were propaganda films. Post-World War II Italy saw the rise of the influential Italian neorealistmovement, which launched the directorial careers of Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini, and Vittorio De Sica. Neorealism declined in the late 1950s in favor of lighter films, such as those of the Commedia all’italiana genre. Actresses such as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida achieved international stardom during this period.

The Spaghetti Western achieved popularity in the mid-1960s, peaking with Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, which featured enigmatic scores by composer Ennio Morricone. Erotic Italian thrillers, or giallos, produced by directors such as Mario Bava and Dario Argento in the 1970s, influenced the horror genre worldwide. During the 1980s and 1990s, directors such as Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Roberto Benigni brought critical acclaim back to Italian cinema.