Casa del Cinema will celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the Liberation of Italy with a programme of five films scheduled throughout the month. The cycle will open on Thursday April 3rd at 8:30 pm, with The Conformist, the masterpiece written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Set in Fascist-era Rome, the film unravels the insecurities, anxieties and lies of the professor of philosophy and spy for the regime Jean-Louis Trintignant, supported by two remarkable female characters, Stefania Sandrelli and Dominique Sanda.
On Sunday April 13th at 11 am, audiences are invited to watch The Four Days of Naples (Le quattro giornate di Napoli) by Nanni Loy, who has made one of the few great Italian films about the theme of the Resistance. The film tells the story of the events that took place in Naples between September 27th and 30th 1943, to celebrate a people who, despite their extreme poverty, reacted courageously to the terror of war and the threat of oppression.
On Thursday April 17th at 6 pm, the screening will feature The Night of the Shooting Stars (La notte di San Lorenzo) by Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani. The film is set in a small town in Tuscany in August 1944, where hope for the arrival of Allied troops counterbalances the ruthless savagery of the Nazi-Fascist occupation. In a brilliant move, the two directors decided to frame the story almost as a fairy-tale, making it a universal invitation to resist every form of oppression.
The series will end with two masterpieces by Roberto Rossellini which will be screened with English subtitles to involve the Capital city’s international audiences. On Saturday April 19th at 6 pm, the screening will feature Paisà, a mosaic of stories set during the Allied advance through the peninsula. On Monday April 21st at 8 pm, the feature film will be Roma città aperta, which will be screened on the occasion of the foundation of Rome. Made just a few months after the Capital was liberated, the film is a cry of indignation starring the two great actors Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi. The series will close on Friday April 25th with the repeat screenings of The Night of the Shooting Stars (at 6 pm) and Paisà (at 8 pm).