Rivista del Cinema

Rivista del Cinema
Title	Rivista del Cinema
Category	Film magazine
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

Rivista del Cinema was an Italian film periodical influential in mid-20th century European film criticism and historiography. Founded during a period of intense cultural exchange in Italy, the magazine engaged with contemporary debates about realism, auteurism, and the relation between national cinemas and international festivals. Its pages featured critical essays, interviews, and reviews that intersected with broader conversations around film aesthetics, censorship, and cultural policy.

History

The magazine emerged amid the postwar reconstruction debates that included figures associated with Cinecittà, Neorealism, and institutions such as the Biennale di Venezia and the Festival de Cannes. Early editorial links connected it to critics and filmmakers involved with Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, and intellectuals debating links to Jean-Luc Godard, André Bazin, François Truffaut, and the critics of Cahiers du Cinéma. Over successive decades it navigated tensions between advocates of Italian neorealism, defenders of classical Hollywood cinema exemplified by Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, and proponents of art cinema associated with Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini. Political and cultural shifts involving actors such as Palmiro Togliatti, Alcide De Gasperi, and institutions like the Italian Ministry of Culture influenced its publication rhythm and editorial priorities. Changes in ownership paralleled transformations in European publishing including firms like Mondadori and Rizzoli, while technological shifts—from 35 mm film to video and later television—shaped its critical remit.

Editorial Profile and Content

Rivista del Cinema developed an editorial profile that balanced historical scholarship with contemporary criticism, publishing pieces on directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roman Polanski, Billy Wilder, and Akira Kurosawa. Regular features surveyed national cinemas including French cinema, German cinema, Soviet cinema, Japanese cinema, British cinema, and American cinema, and covered major film events like the Academy Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival. The magazine included archival research on works by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Sergei Eisenstein, and Yasujiro Ozu, while theoretical interventions engaged with thinkers associated with Roland Barthes, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and Louis Althusser. It also ran practical sections on cinematography and sound design referencing innovations by practitioners such as Sergio Leone collaborators and technicians who worked with Ennio Morricone.

Contributors and Notable Articles

Contributors ranged from film critics and historians to screenwriters and directors. Regular bylines included names who intersected with movements and institutions like Cahiers du Cinéma, Sight & Sound, and Positif; guest essays came from scholars affiliated with universities such as Sapienza University of Rome, University of Bologna, University of Milan, and research centers tied to the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Notable articles examined the aesthetics of neorealism in relation to films by Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, the auteur hypothesis applied to Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni, and archival discoveries about early cinema figures including Georges Méliès and D.W. Griffith. Profiles and interviews featured filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Federico Fellini, Satyajit Ray, and Ettore Scola, while investigative pieces critiqued distribution practices tied to companies such as Titanus and Cineriz.

Influence and Reception

The magazine influenced scholarly debates and public reception across Europe, cited in monographs on Italian cinema, histories of European art cinema, and studies of film festivals like the Locarno Film Festival and the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Critics and historians debated its positions in journals linked to the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies and institutions such as the British Film Institute and the Cineteca di Bologna. Its stances provoked responses from filmmakers, festival programmers, and cultural policymakers connected to entities like the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment (Italy) and the Italian Communist Party. International reception included translation and citation in periodicals published by houses connected to Gallimard and academic presses in the United States and France.

Publication Details and Distribution

Published in Italian, the periodical appeared in print with periodic special issues devoted to retrospectives on directors like Charlie Chaplin and movements such as German Expressionism. Distribution networks involved bookshops and kiosks in cities including Rome, Milan, Venice, and Turin, and subscriptions reached libraries and archives like the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma and the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III. Partnerships with festivals and retrospectives saw the magazine co-sponsor events at venues such as the Teatro alla Scala screening rooms and collaborate with film societies like the Cineteca Italiana and international archives including the Cinémathèque Française and the Museum of Modern Art.

Legacy and Archive Holdings

Its legacy persists in academic citations, retrospective exhibitions, and holdings in major archives and libraries. Complete runs and special collections are conserved at institutions such as the Cineteca Nazionale, the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, the Archivio Storico Luce, and university libraries including Bologna University Library and the University of London Library. Researchers consult microfilm, bound volumes, and digitized back-issues in repositories managed by the European Film Gateway and cataloged in union catalogs like the SBN (Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale). The magazine’s debates continue to inform courses at film schools such as the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and curricula in departments including the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and the Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris 3.

Category:Italian film magazines Category:Film criticism