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Masters of Neorealism

Italian American Cinema

Martin Scorsese Biography

Books about Italian Cinema

Boston-Area Theaters Featuring Italian and Italian-American Films

 Italian Masters of Neorealism 

Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Antonioni, Fellini


Neorealism: a movement especially in Italian filmmaking characterized by the simple, direct depiction of lower-class life. (from Webster's Dictionary)

"Do you know how was born the neo-realist style? After the war we have no studio, no negative, nothing. And a newspaperman ask me: 'What picture do you want to make?' And I say: 'I don't know. Maybe the boys.' Because I watch the boys on the street, the shoeshine boys. And they steal some money for a horse. And I look in Rome and find someone to give me money to make this picture. "And I look at a man, a colleague of mine, Roberto Rossellini. And I sit on the steps and I ask Roberto: 'What you do there?' And he says: 'A lady will maybe give me some money to make a picture about a priest in Rome during the liberation. And you, Vittorio?' And I say: 'I don't know, maybe about shoeshine.' He says: 'Ah, good luck.'" -- Vittorio De Sica in a 1972 interview with Jerry Tallmer quoted in New York Post. October 3, 1991.

Click for a biography of the following directors, who were pioneers of the neorealist style.

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