NYU will host “Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema,” a panel discussion, on Thurs., April 9, 5:30 p.m. at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò.
New York University will host “Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema,” a panel discussion, on Thurs., April 9, 5:30 p.m. at NYU’s Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò (24 West 12th Street [between 5th and 6th Avenues]).
Even casual observers of film history are aware of the Third Reich’s relationship with the German film industry—but what about its Axis ally Italy? How did it develop under fascism? How did it serve the interests of the regime? Few people know that many of Italian cinema's leading lights, from Federico Fellini to Roberto Rossellini to Michelangelo Antonioni, got their start in the Fascist film industry.
In the award-winning Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of Italian Studies and history at NYU, offers the first in-depth examination of the feature and documentary films made by Rossellini and others about Italy’s African and Balkan occupations during Mussolini’s dictatorship.
At the event, Ben-Ghiat, along with Richard Peña, former director of the New York Film Festival and a professor at Columbia University, Joseph Luzzi of Bard College, and Stanislao Pugliese of Hofstra University will discuss the link between Mussolini’s regime and the Italian film industry.
The event is free and open to the public; admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please call 212.998.8739. Subways: 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R (Union Square).