Saturday,
March 08, 2008
Italian Cinema is Making
a Remarkable Comeback
The
ANNOTICO Report
Following
years of stagnation, Italian cinema is making a remarkable comeback with the
emergence of new and talented film directors, as well as the reappearance of a
generation of notorious directors who are now in their forties. Statistics
reflect this trend. Italian films had become an insignificant niche within
These
figures are not simply the result of the regular Christmas films awful productions designed for the
family, which are regularly box office hits. We have seen a series of quality
films emerging from an intermediate generation, like Tornatores
La Sconosciuta
(The Stranger) or Giorni e Nuvole
(Days and Clouds) by Soldini, as well as, most
significantly, a wave of productions by young directors aimed at a young
audience. Italian-style comedies are being revived, and although they
may not be comparable to those of the 1960s and 1970s (by Monicelli,
Risi, De Sica, Scola, and
many others who belong to that golden age), they are
not at all bad. I am referring to films including Mio Fratello h Figlio Unico (My
Brother is an Only Child) by Lucchetti, La Notte Prima Degli Esami by Brizzi, Zanasis Non ci Pensare and LOrchestra di Piazza Vittorio.
Historical
films are also worth mentioning. Foremost, due to its political resonance, is I Vicerh
by Roberto Faenza, based on a famous 17th-century novel describing
Moreover,
it is interesting to note the increased focus in contemporary film on the
sphere of work. This trend is led by women directors. In both Wilma Labates fiction, Signorina F (F stands for Fiat), and
in Francesca Comencinis documentary, In Fabbrica,
factories and workers which had
become invisible in recent decades come to the fore. These films also
reflect workers consciousness and needs and their expression in terms of
trade unionism. This is a sign of a revived form of communication between
cinema and society, after several years of reciprocal neglect.
The
Red Pepper
March
7, 2008
There
are some really interesting Italian films coming out probably Hungarian, French and Polish
ones too but youd never
know it. We are still suffering the results of post-war agreements that gave
the
Following
years of stagnation, Italian cinema is making a remarkable comeback with the
emergence of new and talented film directors, as well as the reapperance of a generation of notorious directors who are
now in their forties. Statistics reflect this trend. Italian films had become
an insignificant niche within
These
figures are not simply the result of the regular Christmas films awful productions designed for the
family, which are regularly box office hits. We have seen a series of quality
films emerging from an intermediate generation, like Tornatores
La Sconosciuta (The Stranger) or Giorni
e Nuvole (Days and Clouds) by Soldini,
as well as, most significantly, a wave of productions by young directors aimed
at a young audience. Italian-style comedies are being revived, and
although they may not be comparable to those of the 1960s and 1970s (by Monicelli, Risi, De Sica, Scola, and many others who belong to that golden age), they are not at all bad. I am referring to films including
Mio Fratello h Figlio Unico (My Brother is an Only Child) by Lucchetti,
La Notte Prima Degli Esami by Brizzi, Zanasis Non ci Pensare and LOrchestra di Piazza Vittorio.
Historical
films are also worth mentioning. Foremost, due to its political resonance, is I
Vicerh by Roberto Faenza, based on a famous
17th-century novel describing
Moreover,
it is interesting to note the increased focus in contemporary film on the
sphere of work. This trend is led by women directors. In both Wilma Labates fiction, Signorina F
(F stands for Fiat), and in Francesca Comencinis
documentary, In Fabbrica, factories and workers which had become invisible in recent
decades come to the fore. These
films also reflect workers consciousness and needs and their expression in
terms of trade unionism. This is a sign of a revived form of communication
between cinema and society, after several years of reciprocal neglect.
Who
will watch them?
But why should one hope for an English release of these films? Who will watch
them? There is a very low likelihood that a German, French, Pole, Swede or any
other European ever will. European movies hardly reach beyond their own
country, where already only a low proportion of domestic films are watched, in
comparison with American films. Audiences for non-national European movies
barely reach 10 per cent of the market and the
The
truth is that Europeans have a shared knowledge on the basis of American
culture, with most people recognising US actors and
images to a far greater extent than those from their own continent. Indeed, it
can be said that Europeans communicate with each other through the American
culture.
So
although newly developed communication technologies have the potential of
guaranteeing an extraordinary enrichment through cultural exchanges, we have
become the victims of massive monoculturalism,
whereby the multiplication of means of communication has gone hand in hand with
a drastic reduction of sources from which content is generated. In
To
make matters worse, 95 per cent of US movies are produced domestically in the
This is an old and painful story that has its roots in
deeply entrenched structures. European cinema stopped being the leader in
this field following the first world war, when the region was devastated by
conflict and famous studios, including the French Pathi,
were converted into weapons factories. In the post-war era,
From
this moment onwards,
To
this day, the fractured European market cannot stand the competition. To make matters
worse, Americans dub their movies to have a better chance at infiltrating the
European market, but then refuse to dub European films, claiming their audience
at home is too sophisticated to accept this method. Hence the use of
subtitles becomes necessary but this fatally reduces audience numbers.
Hegemony,
protectionism and diversity
The positions taken by some European countries towards
their domestic film industries has often been disdainfully labelled protectionist. Such an accusation
is ridiculous, when the figures reveal that American cinema dominates
approximately 80 per cent of the worldwide audio-visual market, and
benefits massively from the hegemonic influence that the
It is
true that this cultural hegemony is the hegemony of a major cinematographic
industry,
Even
if we were ready to accept market notions such as competition encouraging
innovation and the related principle of comparative advantage meaning that it is more efficient to
produce where levels of productivity are highest in many spheres, these formulae cannot
be applied to cultural products. A fridge or a car made in
Following
decades of struggle to assert the importance of a fair and varied film
industry, these basic values have finally been introduced in Unescos recent
Convention on the Defence of Cultural Diversity. They
were approved unanimously, expect for two votes: those of the
Unfortunately,
unlike the WTO, UN institutions have no power to impose such reforms. The
difficulty lies in making the convention prevail over the GATS agreements,
which push towards a potentially devastating liberalisation
even in the audio-visual sector. But if we want a chance to watch an Italian
film (or a French or a Hungarian one, for that matter), we have to overcome
this hurdle. It would be an illusion to think that now, thanks to the internet, we are able to watch whatever we wish. That freedom
only exists if we are in the position to choose, both technically and
culturally. This would require the net to remain truly free, which is an
increasingly unlikely prospect.
The
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