Realism across borders
The role of state institutions in making Italian neo-realist film
transnational
This case study investigates the role of state institutions
in the molding of Italian neo-realism as a transnational phenomenon. Conventionally,
the birth of Italian neo-realism is associated with Rossellini’s Open
City and the end of World War II; however, its transnational story
already begins in the late 1930s and early 1940s when the project of a new Italian
cinema was initiated by a group of young film intellectuals. Focusing on the
discourse surrounding the creation of this new realism in Italian film, we examine
its transnational dimension as it manifests itself in the production history of a
sample of lesser known films that put Italy in touch with other countries. Some of
these films were the result of international coproduction agreements (for instance
René Clément’s The Walls of Malapaga), some represented foreign
characters or involved foreign professionals (Joseph Losey’s Stranger on the
Prowl), whereas the international distribution of yet others resulted in
diplomatic tensions and wrangles (Roberto Rossellini’s The
Miracle). Of special interest in these contexts will be to scrutinize the
means deployed by Italian government institutions to control film production and
police the kind of realist content that could be sanctioned, but also to examine how
the films’ potential for international circulation in turn curbed and modified those
very decision-making processes.
Article outline
- 1.From project to transnational circulation
- 2.Four case studies
- 3.The obscenity of the realist image
- 4.The diplomacy of the realist image
- 5.The price of the realist image
- 6.Conclusion
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Acknowledgements
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Filmography
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Works cited