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Chasing the Real: Italian Neorealism
The film movement that changed cinema forever, and which today still hails the thrill of freedom.
One of the most significant post-war developments in cinema, Italian neorealism rejected traditional cinematic canons. It came to exist out of a moral necessity, following the urgency, as Cesare Zavattini, one of the movement’s architects, put it, to ‘find the hidden drama in everyday life’. When the subject of art becomes ordinary life, reality becomes spectacle.
Our BFI Player collection, accompanying a two-month BFI Southbank season, features the different formal approaches taken by major directors who made reality such a spectacle. This decisive decade is ripe for rediscovery; it’s been 80 years since Rossellini started work on Rome, Open City and 70 years since the ‘official’ end of the movement, yet it remains relevant to our current times in its ability to teach us the importance of freedom and to reinforce our capacity for compassion.
Giulia Saccogna, season curator
Bicycle ThievesBicycle Thieves
Drama194889 minsDirector: Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio De Sica’s story of a father and son searching for a stolen bicycle on the streets of Rome is a classic of post-war Italian cinema.
Stromboli, Land of GodStromboli, Land of God
Drama1950100 minsDirector: Roberto Rossellini
In her first collaboration with Roberto Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman stars as a refugee who marries a fisherman and moves to a barren island.
The Machine that Kills Bad PeopleThe Machine that Kills Bad People
Comedy195284 minsDirector: Roberto Rossellini and Luciano Emmer
Roberto Rossellini's film about a photographer who is given the power to rid the Earth of 'evil-doers'.
Rome, Open CityRome, Open City
Drama1945103 minsDirector: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini’s landmark of Italian neorealism often cited as one of the greatest films ever made.
PaisàPaisà
War1946126 minsDirector: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini’s ambitious and enormously moving follow-up to his breakthrough Rome, Open City.
Germany, Year ZeroGermany, Year Zero
War194873 minsDirector: Roberto Rossellini
The concluding part of Roberto Rossellini’s celebrated War Trilogy, set amid the war-torn ruins of Berlin.
Journey to ItalyJourney to Italy
Drama195486 minsDirector: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini's acerbic but finally very moving masterpiece about marital crisis boasts great performances from Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders
Feature collections
Roberto Rossellini
One of the key figures in cinema history, Rossellini initiated a new movement and evolved the language of film.
Italian Cinema
Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini, Rossellini, Argento – the melodic names that conjure up the best of Italian cinema.
Instant Film School
Learn from cinema’s best with this collection shaped for students. No lectures, no essays, just proof of what a camera and an idea can do.