1. Italian Neorealism (1943-1950)

2. Fate Adesso – GET INTO GROUPS!!!
Read the following quote and write down one statement about it.

3. Obiettivo
Students will be able to understand the concept of Neorealism and its specifics focuses brought to each students attention by researching specific topics regarding Neorealism in Italian Cinema.

4. Attivita’
As a group you are to research and teach the class the full concept of Neorealism.
Each group will be assigned to a topic of Neorealism and each student will have be responsible for his/her part
Give completed with your part, help your group members out!!!!

5. Group Topics 1: What is Neorealism? 2: Acting in Neorealism Films?
3: Neorealism Film - The Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette)
4: Neorealism Film: The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita)
5: Neorealism Film : Rome, Open City (Roma, Citta’ Aperta)
6: Demise of Italian Neorealism

6. Group 1 What is Neorealism ?
1. Definition of Neorealism ( in your own words)
2. Provide examples of Neorealism focuses
3. Characteristics of Neorealism
4. Reaction from Fascism era

7. Group 2 Acting in Neorealism films 1. Locations?
2. Directors choice in actors?
3. Screenwriting?
4. Sound Effects

8. Group 3 Neorealism Films The Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette)
1. Name the director of the film
2. When was film directed?
3. What significance does this film have on Neorealism?
4. Provide examples from research of how it depicts everyday life.

9. Group 4 Neorealism Films The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita)
1. Name the director of the film
2. When was film directed?
3. What significance does this film have on Neorealism?
4. Provide examples from research of how it depicts everyday life.

10. Group 5 Neorealism Films Rome, Open City (Roma, Citta’ Aperta)
1. Name the director of the film
2. When was film directed?
3. What significance does this film have on Neorealism?
4. Provide examples from research of how it depicts everyday life.

11. Group 6 Demise of Italian Neorealism
1. Postwar Italian government position?
2. Are Neorealism films still created in today's film industry?
3. Name a current popular neorealism film, is made.
4. How has Italian Neorealism influenced other filmmakers?

12. Italian Neorealism
A movement of film realistically reflecting the difficult economic and moral conditions in post-WWII Italy

13. Italian Neorealism
Significant because its revolutionary characteristics influenced so many other filmmakers…even to this day

14. Characteristics of Italian Neorealism
An emphasis on the value of ordinary people--in particular the poor
a preoccupation with Italy's Fascist past and its aftermath of wartime devastation
Often featured Christian and Marxist humanism…the idea that all social classes should be treated equally and with compassion
An avoidance of neatly or cleverly plotted stories
A dark and gritty sensibility that often focused on darker themes

15. It was also a reaction AGAINST the Romanticism of American Cinema
“This powerful desire of the [neo-realist] cinema to see and to analyze, this hunger for reality, for truth, is a kind of concrete homage to other people, that is, to all who exist…
…Whereas we are attracted by the truth, by the reality which touches us and which we want to know and understand directly and thoroughly, the Americans continue to satisfy themselves with a sweetened version of truth produced through transpositions.” --Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian Director

16. Mise en Scene of Italian Neorealism
Documentary-like visual style with an avoidance of special effects or unnatural lighting

17. Mise en Scene of Italian Neorealism
The use of actual locations, especially city exteriors, rather than studio sets

18. Acting in Italian Neorealism films
Directors cast real non-professional people—not trained actors—sometimes even for the lead roles.

19. Acting in Italian Neorealism films
Screenwriting featured conversational, everyday speech rather than literary or over-dramatic dialogue
Use of post-synchronized sound—dubbing of dialogue in the studio—allowed for greater camera movement.

20. Birth of Italian Neorealism
Director Robert Rossellini’s 1945 Rome, Open City
The film is about ordinary citizens fighting the WWII Nazi occupation of Rome shortly before the American army liberated the city.

21. Birth of Italian Neorealism
Rossellini wanted to portray the cruel atmosphere that existed during Nazi occupation and many of the film's narrative elements are based on actual events during this time.

22. Italian Neorealism Continues
Director Vittoriao de Sica and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini advanced the movement.
Vittoriao de Sica

23. Major Films of Italian Neorealism
Their 1946 film Shoeshine told the story of boys getting into trouble with the police after trying to find the money to buy a horse.

24. Major Films of Italian Neorealism
The film won an honorary Academy Award (before the Best Foreign Film category was invented)

25. Major Films of Italian Neorealism
Di Sica’s The Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette) of 1948 represents the pinnacle of the movement.

26. The Bicycle Thieves Legacy
It was given an honorary Academy Award in 1950.
It appears on critics’ and directors’ lists as one of the most important and influential films ever made.
The film placed sixth as the greatest film ever made in Sight & Sound's latest directors' poll, conducted in 2002

27. The demise of Italian Neorealism
Postwar Italian governments did not approve of films that portrayed Italy in a negative light.
A 1949 law strengthening production and exhibition of Italian films imposed censorship on scripts that “slandered Italy.”

28. Italian Neorealism Influenced other filmmakers because…
It opened the door to filming on location rather than in a studio
It showed filmmakers that movies can be used to highlight the reality of societal problems and make viewers consider social change
In Asia, Africa, and Latin America, in particular, it demonstrated that you could make great films inexpensively with your own country’s landscape and people—without lavish sets or expensive stars.