We know a lot about the directors and stars of Italian cinema's heyday, from Roberto Rossellini to Sophia Loren. But what do we know about the Italian audiences that went to see their films? Based on the AHRC-funded project 'Italian Cinema Audiences 1945-60', Italian Cinema Audiences: Histories and Memories of Cinema-going in Post-war Italy draws upon the rich data collected by the project team (160 video interviews and 1000+ written questionnaires gathered from Italians aged 65 and over; archival material related to cinema distribution, exhibition and programming, box-office figures, and critical discussions of cinema from film journals and popular magazines of the period). For the first time, cinema's role in everyday Italian life, and its affective meaning when remembered by older people, are enriched with industrial analyses of the booming Italian film sector of the period, as well as contextual data from popular and specialized magazines.
Author(s): Daniela Treveri Gennari, Catherine O’Rawe, Danielle Hipkins, Silvia Dibeltulo, Sarah Culhane
Series: Topics and Issues in National Cinema, 8
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 237
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Tables
Authors
Foreword
Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
Part One The activity of cinemagoing
2 Cinemas, exhibition practices and topographical memories
3 Only entertainment?: Memories inside and outside the cinema
Part Two Films: Genre, taste and popular memory
4 Audiences and film genre
5 ‘Back then I believed in the nation – I don’t anymore’: Revisiting the national film canon through audience memories of neore
Part Three Gender and cinemagoing
6 A girl’s-eye view of post-war Italian cinema
7 Beyond ‘belle e brave’: Female stars and Italian cinema audiences
8 Narrative imaginings of masculinity through cinema*
Conclusions
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Bibliography
Index
