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| Il Cinema | |
|---|---|
| Title | Il Cinema |
| Language | Italian |
| Country | Italy |
| First date | 1920s |
| Discipline | Film studies |
| Publisher | Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia |
Il Cinema is an Italian film periodical and cultural institution focusing on motion pictures, cinematic theory, production, and criticism. Founded in the early twentieth century, it has interwoven commentary on Italian neorealism, European avant-garde, and global auteurism, engaging with filmmakers, festivals, studios, and academic institutions. The journal and affiliated projects have connected practitioners from Rome to Venice, inspired archives in Bologna and Turin, and influenced retrospectives at major festivals.
Il Cinema has functioned as a nexus linking Cinecittà, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Fondazione Prada, and editorial networks across Rai, Mediaset, Sky Italia, and international presses. Contributors have included critics active at Cahiers du Cinéma, Sight & Sound, Positif, and scholars associated with Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Università degli Studi di Bologna, Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, and University of Oxford. The publication has fostered dialogue with festival programmers at Venice Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and programmers from Locarno Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.
Early volumes charted interactions with silent-era figures such as Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, and institutions like Cinecittà Studios and Istituto Luce. Mid-century issues covered the rise of Italian neorealism, debates involving Roberto Rossellini, Cesare Zavattini, and producers at Lux Film. Later decades documented engagements with Michelangelo Antonioni, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Francesco Rosi, and international auteurs including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman, Jean-Luc Godard, and François Truffaut. The journal traced technological shifts tied to Technicolor, Eastmancolor, Dolby Digital, and the transition from celluloid to digital formats championed by George Lucas and discussed at SIGGRAPH presentations.
Regular editors and contributors have included critics and theorists associated with Pier Paolo Pasolini's circle, historians from Fondazione Centro Sperimentale, archivists from ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione), curators at Cineteca Nazionale, and filmmakers like Nanni Moretti, Paolo Sorrentino, Matteo Garrone, Gabriele Salvatores, and Ettore Scola. Scholarly essays referenced work by academics at Harvard University, Yale University, Sorbonne University, University of California, Los Angeles, and contributors linked to BFI and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Interviews featured composers such as Ennio Morricone, cinematographers like Vittorio Storaro, editors in the lineage of Ruggero Mastroianni, and producers from Fresca Film and Titanus.
Il Cinema sponsored monographs and special issues on films including Bicycle Thieves, La Dolce Vita, 8½, L'Avventura, Accattone, Mamma Roma, The Leopard, Cinema Paradiso, Il Postino, Gomorrah (film), The Great Beauty, La Notte, and retrospectives of Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. It collaborated on restorations with Cineteca di Bologna, Film Foundation, National Film Archive of Japan, and restoration labs like L'Immagine Ritrovata, coordinating screenings at Teatro Argentina, Teatro alla Scala, and institutions such as Museo del Cinema di Torino. Co-productions involved partnerships with Rai Cinema, European Film Academy, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and independent companies including Fandango.
The periodical emphasized auteurism traced to André Bazin and debates from Cahiers du Cinéma, structuralist approaches linked to Christian Metz, Marxist readings in the tradition of Stuart Hall and Louis Althusser, and phenomenological aesthetics influenced by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It published analyses of mise-en-scène as practiced by Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni, studies of editing inspired by Sergei Eisenstein and Lev Kuleshov, and articles on soundscapes referencing Walter Murch and Giacomo Puccini adaptations. Discourses included examinations of genre through Spaghetti Western exemplars like Sergio Leone's films, political cinema from Elio Petri, and experimental work by Maya Deren and Jean Cocteau.
Il Cinema influenced programming at Venice Biennale Cinema, citation in UNESCO cultural listings, and curricula at film schools including New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Reviews and essays shaped critical responses at The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and The Guardian. The journal's positions intersected with movements such as the Italian Communist Party-era cultural debates, solidarity with cinematic federations like FIPRESCI, and recognition through awards connected to David di Donatello and Nastro d'Argento. Its symposiums attracted speakers from European Film Academy, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and trustees from Fondazione Carlo Collodi.
Collections of Il Cinema materials are held at Cineteca Nazionale, Cineteca di Bologna, Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Archivio Centrale dello Stato, and university libraries at Università degli Studi di Torino and Università Ca' Foscari Venezia. Collaborative projects have been undertaken with The Film Foundation, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, British Film Institute, Library of Congress, and digitization programs involving Europeana and Digital Public Library of America. Preservation efforts have followed standards from Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione and restoration practices at L'Immagine Ritrovata.
Category:Italian film journals