Few national cinemas offer as compelling a mirror to social transformation as Italy’s. In the decades following World War II, Italian filmmakers shaped a legacy of innovation, reflection, and artistry that still resonates on the global stage. A four-part series explores pivotal moments in Italian cinema—from the birth of Neorealism to the bold experimentation of contemporary filmmakers.
Art historian Jennie Hirsh guides participants through the films, directors, and cultural shifts that defined this cinematic evolution, offering a deeper understanding of how Italian film captured—and questioned—its time. Through clips, discussion, and visual analysis, Hirsh illuminates the aesthetic and ethical foundations of each period in Italian cinema and its enduring legacy in world film.
Session Information
Projections of Fascism (1970s–1980s)
In the decades after World War II, Italian filmmakers confronted the legacy of Fascism with growing intensity. The politically charged cinema of the 1970s turned its lens on Mussolini’s regime and its impact on national identity.
Hirsh investigates how directors approached the memory of dictatorship and resistance, using film as both reflection and critique. Featured works include Bernardo Bertolucci’s stylish and psychologically layered The Conformist ; Lina Wertmüller’s Love and Anarchy, an exploration of political passion and personal despair; Ettore Scola’s A Special Day, set against the backdrop of a Fascist parade; and the Taviani Brothers’ The Night of the Shooting Stars, which revisits World War II through memory and myth.
Through art direction, architecture, and historical allegory, these films interrogate the aesthetics and ethics of Fascist ideology and deepen understanding of how cinema helped Italy process its fractured past.
Additional Sessions of the Postwar Italian Cinema Series
General Information
