Curated List
Italian Neorealism
Three films from postwar Italy, shot on location with non-professionals
Italian neorealism refers to a body of films made in Italy from about 1945 into the early 1950s, generally shot on location, often with non-professional actors, and concerned with poverty and unemployment after the war. Two of the three films here are by Fellini and mark the turn toward more personal subjects.
- 01
Bicycle Thieves
Ladri di biciclette · 1948
Vittorio De Sica
De Sica's 1948 film. Lamberto Maggiorani, its lead, was a factory worker with no previous acting experience, and the film was shot on location in Rome.
- 02
The Road
La strada · 1954
Federico Fellini
Fellini's 1954 film, still shot on location but turning toward a fable-like relationship between its characters. Some left-wing critics of the day treated it as a departure.
- 03
Nights of Cabiria
Le notti di Cabiria · 1957
Federico Fellini
Fellini's 1957 film, shot on location on the outskirts of Rome, where the shanty settlement and Cabiria's own house are real places. The working method is still the movement's.