Rome, Open City
Making lists is an activity moviegoers are fond of. Every year, the same ritual: compilation of the ten best films, with comparative analyses, debates, heated discussions. But what about the ultimate list of the most outstanding films in the history of cinema? That is to say, those films that must be seen, those that have forever transformed the art of cinema, but also our way of seeing a culture, of understanding the world as well as our own lives? This program aims to tackle this challenge with nearly eighty films, produced between 1916 and 1960, while waiting for your lists!
In Rome, during the Second World War, Manfredi, the leader of a communist resistance network tries to escape from the Gestapo, with the help of Francesco, Pina and the priest Don Pietro.
Trailer in Italian with English subtitles. The movie will be shown in Italian with French subtitles.
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film and television director. He is one of the most important directors of Italian neorealism, a movement that largely revolved around him and his films Rome, Open City (1945), Paisan (1946), and Germany, Year Zero (1948). Coming from a bourgeois family in Rome, Rossellini grew up in an artistic, musical, and cultural atmosphere. His father built the first cinema in Rome, allowing him to attend many screenings from a very young age. Rossellini's early works were short films. His first three feature films, The White Ship (1941), A Pilot Returns (1942), and The Man with a Cross (1943), form his Fascist Trilogy. When the fascist regime ended in 1943, he was already working on Rome, Open City (1945), which became an immediate success, winning one of the Grand Prizes at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. That same year, he directed Paisan with non-professional actors, followed by Germany, Year Zero (1948), which won the Grand Prize and Best Screenplay at the Locarno Film Festival. After receiving a letter from Ingrid Bergman, the two began a relationship that propelled them into the spotlight. They collaborated on several films in the 1950s, including Stromboli, their first project together. Rossellini continued his filmmaking career until the mid-1970s, shortly before his death.
