red pepper feb/mar 200860

film focus

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 distinguished directors who are now in their forties. Statistics reflect this trend. Italian films had become an insignificant niche within Italy’s film industry. Now, in 2007, they have conquered 30 per cent of the market, returning to a level of popularity that was last witnessed in 1987. 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 Tornatore’s La Sconosciuta (The Stranger) or Giorni e Nuvole (Days and Clouds) by Soldini, as well as 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 èè Figlio Unico (My Brother is an Only Child) by Lucchetti, La Notte Prima Degli Esami (The Night Before Exams ) by Brizzi, Zanasi’s Non Pensarci (Don’t Think About It) and L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio (The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio). Historical films are also worth mentioning. Foremost, due to its political resonance, is I Vicerè è (The Viceroys) by Roberto Faenza, based on a famous 17thcentury novel describing Sicily on the eve of Garibaldi’s arrival on the island. What strikes the audience is the analogy between the Italian ruling class at this historical moment and at the present time. 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 Labate’s fiction, Signorina Effe (Miss F), and in Francesca Comencini’s documentary, In Fabbrica, (In the Factory) 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 UK’s 3 per cent is by far the worst. 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

The films we miss and why

There are some really interesting Italian films coming out – probably Hungarian, French and Polish ones too – but you’d never know it. We are still suffering the results of post-war agreements that gave the US film industry the power to dominate our culture as if films were like motor cars. The Italian champion of cultural rights, Luciana Castellina , describes what we miss and updates us on the global efforts to defend cultural diversity

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 Europe, for example, the whole of African, Asian and Latin American cinema is filtered through a hole as tiny as 1 per cent of the total market. To make matters worse, 95 per cent of US movies are produced domestically in the US, with the result that my young nephew is likely to know more about Texas than about France. Meanwhile, an American kid his same age may not even be aware that Europe exists. One of the saddest images of the early days of the Iraq War was that of a young Yankee soldier, holding a gun and looking utterly lost upon his arrival in the ancient city of Babylon during the first days of the invasion.

Hollywood’s dominance 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 Pathéé, were converted into weapons’ factories. In the post-war era, Europe witnessed a massive invasion of foreign films, increasingly popular with the advent of sound, while European productions weakened due to language differences. From this moment onwards, Hollywood began to dominate the market. A lack of language barriers guaranteed domestic success, and films were distributed abroad only once production costs had been at least partially covered. As a result, distribution margins grew and with massive marketing capacities, thousands of copies were being