Cinema italiano degli anni ’90

Italian 360, Fall 2001

The College of New Jersey

Prof. Monica Rossi-Miller

Office hours: Tuesday 11-12 am

Friday 3:30 – 4:30 pm

Tuesday 5 – 7:50 pm, Bliss Hall, Room 332

Course Description and Requirements

Fourteen Italian films released between 1991 to the present will be examined from the point of view of 20^th century Italian social, political, and cultural history in order to understand the various social and ethical concerns exemplified by the movies. The films are grouped into the following thematic clusters: (1) Immigrazione negli anni ’90, (2) Identita nazionale: incontro/scontro con la “differenza.”, (3) Neo neo-realismo, (4) Narrazioni di “formazione”: il passaggio dall’adolescenza all’eta adulta, (5) Tra reale e surreale: racconti di fine secolo. We will study the individual films within the framework of each of the themes and discuss their relationship with the evolving, mutating Italian social and political reality of the end of the millennium. Students will write a short essay after the screening of each film.

Course Objectives:

1. To introduce Italian contemporary culture through the medium of film

2. To provide an overview of the history of contemporary Italian cinema through the screening of a series of important Italian films

3. To become familiar with the interpretation by different contemporary Italian directors of today’s Italy

4. To consider the films in relation to the social and ethical concerns exemplified by the movies

5. To broaden this understanding with selected cultural, and cinematic readings

6. To gain a greater degree of “cinematic literacy” by studying the art, technology, language and criticism of film

7. To write critically about the films screened by describing and analyzing them and the assigned readings in clearly focused short essays and a final paper.

Required Text:

Mario Sesti: Nuovo cinema italiano: gli autori, I film, le idee (1994)

August 28 Introduction to Course

Film: Rumori di fondo (1997), Claudio Camarca

Theme One: Immigrazione negli anni ’90

September 11 Film: Pummaro (1991), Michele Placido

Reading: L. Balbo, L. Manconi: I razzismi reali, pp. 9-29

September 18 Film: Un’altra vita (1992), Carlo Mazzacurati

Reading: I razzismi reali, pp. 30-55

September 25 Film: Vesna va veloce (1996), Carlo Mazzacurati

Reading: I razzismi reali, pp. 59-103

Theme Two: Identita nazionale: incontro/scontro con la differenza

October 2 Film: L’articolo 2 (1993), Maurizio Zaccaro

Reading: V. Cesareo: Societa multietniche e multiculturalismi, pp. 9-37

October 9 Film: Lamerica (1994), Gianni Amelio

Reading: Societa multietniche e multiculturalismi, pp. 39-73

October 16 Film: Un’anima divisa in due (1994), Silvio Soldini

Reading: Societa multietniche e multiculturalismi, pp. 91-135

Theme Three: Neo neo-realismo

October 30 Film: Il ladro di bambini (1991), Gianni Amelio

Reading: M. Landy: Italian Film, “A Cinema of Childhood”, pp. 234-260

M. Liehm: Passion and Defiance, “Neorealism is like…”, pp. 129-137

November 6 Film: L’amore molesto (1996), Mario Martone

Reading: Italian Film, “Conversion, Impersonation, and Masculinity”, pp. 309-343

November 13 Film: La vita e bella (1999), Roberto Benigni

Reading: Passion and Defiance, “Lacrimae rerum”, pp. 60-89; “What is Reality?”, pp. 103-128

Theme Four: Narrazioni di “formazione”: il passaggio dall’adolescenza all’eta adulta

November 20 Film: Radiofreccia (1998), Luciano Ligabue

Reading: G.P. Brunetta: Cent’anni di cinema italiano, Secondo volume, “La polvere di Cantor”,

pp. 348-377

November 27 Film: La guerra degli Anto (1999), Riccardo Milani

Reading: Cent’anni di cinema italiano, pp. 378-402

Theme Five: Tra reale e surreale: racconti di fine secolo

December 4 Film: Strane storie (1995), Sandro Baldoni

Reading: Cent’anni di cinema italiano, pp. 403-420

December 11 Presentazione orale

Students will hand in a short paper, 5 to 8 pages, by December 17.