Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies - Volume 12, Issue 2, 2024

This article offers a critical review of Colombian Felipe Guerrero’s films and an insight into how his experiences at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome (CSC) might have nurtured and enriched his artistic work. First, I focus on Guerrero’s films Medellín (1999) and Paraíso (Paradise) (2006), which were the result of conversations with Adriano Aprà, a professor of non-fiction and experimental cinema at the CSC (Martín-Flórez 2023). Using an experimental and structural filmmaking lens, I then examine Guerrero’s most recent films, Corta (Cut) (2012) and Oscuro Animal (Dark Beast) (2016). A critical analysis allows for a deeper understanding of the filmmaking legacy of this artist, demonstrating how Guerrero’s experiences at the CSC have influenced his film artistry and ultimately contributed to the legacy of cinema in Cali (Colombia) and of practices that have been fundamental to the revitalization of contemporary Colombian cinema.

Helena Lumbreras (1935–95), founder of the Colectivo de Cine de Clase in Francoist Spain, started her film career at Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. The politically charged atmosphere of 1960s Italy marked a turning point for the young filmmaker professionally and ideologically. Her Italian sojourn proved remarkably influential, since it allowed her to delve into cultural materials that were censored in Spain and drew her into left-wing intellectual circles. During these years (1962–70), she encountered film directors and theorists like Pier Paolo Pasolini and Cesare Zavattini, who deepened her interest in collective film movements. She took her first step towards politically engaged cinema with her graduation film, España (1964). In the following years, her deepening involvement with the anti-Francoist movement coincided with her prioritization of documentary over fiction. This veered her career away from representational political cinema towards militant political cinema, which she would eventually put into practice in her homeland.

This article seeks to provide an overview of the rich history of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC) in Rome, as well as show the importance of preserving its institutional legacy. First, this article details the school’s connection to the Italian State, with particular attention to its fluctuating political affiliations over the years. Next, this article considers the international vocation of the CSC and offers reflections on the school’s pertinent influence on film abroad, with a specific focus on the CSC’s connection to the Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV (EICTV) in Cuba and its lasting mark on its alumni from across the globe. All of this will be followed by an interview with Roberto Perpignani, a prestigious Italian film editor and editing instructor at the CSC.

A self-taught artist initially trained alongside Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, and considered today by both his country’s critics and his peers as one of the most important Argentinean directors, if not the most important, Leonardo Favio (1938–2012) often expressed his views on Italian cinema and Federico Fellini’s films without openly acknowledging their effect on his films. Despite this positioning, I intend to illustrate in this article how Favio’s cinematic universe has been traversed and shaped by Italian cinema, as by a red thread. More precisely, I aim to highlight how Favio, after incorporating several themes, characters and approaches of neorealist cinema in his only short and in his first film, included dialogues with Fellini’s cinematic universe in almost all his subsequent releases. The encounter with the cinema of Italian Maestro, without ever diminishing the originality and specificity of Favio’s films, turns them into a sort of resonance box for Fellinian echoes.

Eva Perón’s trip to Italy in the summer of 1947 has prompted this research about the development of links between the Italian and the Argentine film industries in the years immediately following the Second World War. Our work takes a historical approach to this topic through the analysis of different film types (movies, newsreels and documentaries), supported by other documents derived from periodical publications, such as newspapers and specialized magazines. It concludes that while at the time of Evita’s trip there was an economic agreement between both governments that consisted of shipping grains in exchange for encouraging the migration of skilled Italian workers who could carry out the economic plans devised by Perón, in the film industry, there was an attempt to attract top class Italian actors and directors in order to secure the growth of the budding Argentine film industry.

This article reconstructs the material history of a set of Super 8 films clandestinely shot in the Lecumberri prison of Mexico City in 1970, and eventually used for two films produced in France: 2 de octubre, aquí México (Menéndez 1971) and Histoire d’un document (Menéndez 1971). The article first addresses the production of these materials in the broader context of the 1968 Mexican student movement, and considers the impact of the Super 8 format for guerrilla filmmaking and Third Cinema. Secondly, it discusses the aesthetic, political and historical implications of Menéndez’s agreement with the Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (French Public Office of Radio and Television) (ORTF), and the differences between the two films. Finally, the article attends to his short stay in Italy during the winter of 1972 to explore the tensions, imbalances and asymmetries that traversed transnational exhibition and production networks of solidarity between Europe and Latin America.

In this interview, director Sebastiani and producer de la Fuente discuss their short film which investigates the inner world of Zheng, a young Chinese immigrant living in Turin who is responsible for managing newly arrived migrants from China. They describe the inspiration for this film, its mode of expression and the challenges surrounding its creation, including the selection of actors, direction in a foreign language and funding of the project. This interview considers the evolution of Chinese–Italian collaboration in filmmaking against the background of Zheng’s tale of marginalization in a strange land.

This is an interview with Luvada A. Harrison, the granddaughter of Dotts Johnson (1913–86), who was the African American actor and jazz singer cast to portray one of the lead roles in Roberto Rossellini’s Paisà(Paisan) (1946), one of the most influential films in the history of cinema. Although Rossellini’s film has been thoroughly studied, very little is known about Dotts, not only in Italy but also in the United States. This interview seeks to shed more light on the life and career of Hylan Dotts Johnson, an under-recognized African American actor who was also an accomplished singer and composer.

Review of: I manga: Introduzione al fumetto giapponese, Marco Pellitteri (2021)

Roma: Carocci Editore, 167 pp.,

ISBN 978-8-82901-104-9, p/bk, €15.00

Review of: Un’emozione puramente visuale: Film scientifici tra sperimentazione e avanguardia, Maria Ida Bernabei (2021)

Siracusa: LetteraVentidue, 272 pp.,

ISBN 978-8-86242-490-5, p/bk, €17.10

Review of: Nuovelle vague italiana: il cinema del nuovo millennio, Vito Zagarrio (2021)

Venice: Marsilio, 336 pp.,

ISBN 978-8-82970-374-6, p/bk, €24

Review of: Passato e presente nel cinema italiano: Storia e società sul grande schermo, Chiara De Santi and Federica Colleoni (eds) (2022)

Rome: Vecchiarelli Editore, 294 pp.,

ISBN 978-8-88247-467-6, p/bk, €30.00

Review of: Elsa de’ Giorgi: Storia, discorsi e memorie del cinema, Mariapia Comand (2022)

Milan-Udine: Mimesis, 279 pp.,

ISBN 978-8-85756-312-1, p/bk, €24

Review of: Sguardi privati: teorie e prassi del cinema amatoriale, Paolo Caneppele (2022)

Milan: Meltemi, 422 pp.,

ISBN 978-8-85519-498-3, p/bk, €24.70