ITALIAN NEOREALISM AND GLOBAL CINEMA

Italian Neorealism and Global Cinema
Edited by Laura E. Ruberto and Kristi M. Wilson
Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television Series

Contributors: David Anshen, Moinak Biswas, Natalia Sui-hung Chan, Tomas Crowder-Taraborrelli, Jaimey Fisher, Rachel Gabara, Millicent Marcus, Antonio Napolitano, Laura E. Ruberto, Thomas Stubblefield, Antonio Traverso, Lubica Ucník, Pasquale Verdicchio, and Kristi M. Wilson.

Despite its lack of organization and relatively short lifespan, the Italian neorealist movement deeply influenced directors and film traditions around the world. This collection examines the impact of Italian neorealism beyond the period of 1945–1952, the years conventionally connected to the movement, and beyond the postwar Italian film industry where the movement originated.

Providing a refreshing aesthetic and ideological contrast to mainstream Hollywood films, neorealist filmmakers demonstrated not only how an engaging narrative technique could be brought to bear upon social issues, but how cinema could shape and redefine national identity. The fourteen essays in Italian Neorealism and Global Cinema consider films from Italy, India, Brazil, Africa, the Czech Republic, postwar Germany, Hong Kong, the United States, and Great Britain. Each essay explores neorealism’s complex relationship to a different national film tradition, style, or historical period, illustrating the profound impact of neorealism and the ways that it continues to complicate the relationship between ideas of nation, national cinema, and national identity.