Photoromance, she read: Fandom and the politics of Italian media

This article examines Italian non-fiction media productions of the late 1950s and 1960s that represent the photoromance industry and its female fans. I argue that state-controlled and/or privately owned media outlets and their contributors (among them, Cesare Zavattini and Mario Soldati) scapegoated photoromances in defence of moral, social and cultural respectability, but also on the basis of anxieties towards the increasing role played by female audiences in the making of culture. Furthermore, I show that politically engaged documentaries similarly chastised the photoromance industry without necessarily serving the cause of women’s emancipation. Blaming photoromances for the degeneration of Catholic values, for the debasement of working-class culture and for the degradation of consumerist society, all films serve the same purpose of maintaining a patriarchal society’s status quo, of diverging attention from ‘higher’ cultural products and their exploitation of women’s bodies and of minimizing the important role that female fans played in the success of a global market.

Dreams and desire. The cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini: A conversation with Roberto Chiesi

In this interview, Roberto Chiesi talks about the personal and professional relationship between Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini. He describes their experience with neorealism and how each of them moved past it to develop an original and unique cinematographic style. He focuses on specific elements of their cinema, such as the importance of the oneiric dimension and their conception of the sacred. Chiesi explains the central role civic involvement had in the work of Pasolini; his last movie Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom) (Pasolini 1975) is centred on the dramatic process of degradation caused by the new consumeristic ideology. Fellini, instead, was primarily concerned with the corruptive vulgarity of the new commercial television. Highlighting the importance of Pasolini and Fellini’s legacy, Chiesi concludes the interview by saying that the two artists had the foresight to imagine the dreadful long-term consequences the events of their time would produce, consequences we are experiencing in today’s society.

Viaggio sulla luna: Voyage dans la Lune (Georges Méliès, 1902), Antonio Costa (2013) Cabiria: (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914). Lo spettacolo della Storia, Silvio Alovisio (2014) Ma l’amor mio non muore! (Mario Camerini, 1913): La diva e l’arte di comporre lo spazio, Stella Dagna (2014) La presa di Roma - 20 Settembre 1870 (Filoteo Alberini, 1905): La nascita di una nazione, Giovanni Lasi (2015) I topi grigi: (Emilio Ghione, 1918) Il romanzo cinematografico di Za la Mort, Denis Lotti (2018)

Review of: Viaggio sulla luna: Voyage dans la Lune (Georges Méliès, 1902), Antonio Costa (2013)Milan: Mimesis, 120 pp.,ISBN 978-8-85751-624-0, p/bk, €10.00Cabiria: (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914). Lo spettacolo della Storia, Silvio Alovisio (2014)Milan: Mimesis, 114 pp.,ISBN 978-8-85752-157-2, p/bk, €8.00 <p/> Ma l’amor mio non muore! (Mario Camerini, 1913): La diva e l’arte di comporre lo spazio, Stella Dagna (2014)Milan: Mimesis, 96 pp.,ISBN 978-8-85752-296-8, p/bk, €8.00 <p/> La presa di Roma - 20 Settembre 1870 (Filoteo Alberini, 1905): La nascita di una nazione, Giovanni Lasi (2015)Milan: Mimesis, 108 pp.,ISBN: 978-8-85753-048-2, p/bk, €9.00 <p/> I topi grigi: (Emilio Ghione, 1918) Il romanzo cinematografico di Za la Mort, Denis Lotti (2018)Milan: Mimesis, 98 pp.,ISBN 978-8-85755-214-9, p/bk, €9.00

Trailers as mediatized performances: Investigating the use of promotional videos among Italian contemporary theatre artists

In the theatre sector, many companies, festivals and theatres have integrated promotional videos into their communication strategies. This recent development is undoubtedly due to the rise of social media and the increasing accessibility of video technologies, but also to the need for theatre companies to publicize their work in a media that combines creative autonomy with economic efficiency. Despite this widespread use, trailers in the performing arts have received little attention in academic literature. This article offers the first, exploratory study on the use of promotional videos in the field of contemporary theatre in Italy and on the connections between the current creation of digital promotional clips and the heritage of the Italian video-theatre. Through in-depth interviews with sixteen of the leading Italian companies, this research aims to bring out the role theatre trailers play for performance artists.

Hacked Transmissions: Technology and Connective Activism in Italy, Alessandra Renzi (2020)

Review of: Hacked Transmissions: Technology and Connective Activism in Italy, Alessandra Renzi (2020) Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 256 pp., ISBN 978-1-51790-326-8, p/bk, $27.00

Amara terra mia/Io vado via: Cinema Italiano e canti della grande emigrazione del Novecento, Stefania Carpiceci (2020)

Review of: Amara terra mia/Io vado via: Cinema Italiano e canti della grande emigrazione del Novecento, Stefania Carpiceci (2020) Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 288 pp., ISBN 978-8-84675-984-9, p/bk, €27.00