Professor Joseph Luzzi, the director of Italian studies at Bard College and an award-winning author, offers a comprehensive look at Italian cinema from its inception in 1895 through its major periods and influences. Having altered the landscape of Italian art and society, as well as inspiring filmmakers the world over, Italian cinema proves a fascinating study. Major focuses of the course include neorealism, the Spaghetti Western, the Italian giallo, and Italian-style comedy.
Lecture 1 Origins, Sacred and Silent
Lecture 2 Terms and Techniques
Lecture 3 The Spider and Its Web: Pirandello and Early Film
Lecture 4 To Remake Italy: Neorealism
Lecture 5 Starring Sicilian Fisherman: The Case of Visconti
Lecture 6 The Bergman Years: Rossellini
Lecture 7 Making It Personal: Auteur Cinema
Lecture 8 One-Man History: Five from Fellini
Lecture 9 Fact and Image in Antonioni
Lecture 10 Adaptation, Italian Style
Lecture 11 Genre and Gender
Lecture 12 Elusion: Italian Cinema in the 1980s and 1990s
Lecture 13 Neorealism Redux
Lecture 14 The Past as Present: Giordana's Epic Vision