A Companion to Italian Cinema

Written by leading figures in the field, A Companion to Italian Cinema re-maps Italian cinema studies, employing new perspectives on traditional issues, and fresh theoretical approaches to the exciting history and field of Italian cinema.

• Offers new approaches to Italian cinema, whose importance in the post-war period was unrivalled
• Presents a theory based approach to historical and archival material
• Includes work by both established and more recent scholars, with new takes on traditional critical issues, and new theoretical approaches to the exciting history and field of Italian cinema
• Covers recent issues such as feminism, stardom, queer cinema, immigration and postcolonialism, self-reflexivity and postmodernism, popular genre cinema, and digitalization
• A comprehensive collection of essays addressing the prominent films, directors and cinematic forms of Italian cinema, which will become a standard resource for academic and non-academic purposes alike

Keywords: Italian cinema; Neorealism; auteur cinema; commedia all'italiana; nation cinema; Italian cinema; Fascism; Italian silent cinema; Communism/Socialism/Catholicism; the “southern question;” terrorism in Italian cinema; feminism in Italian cinema; stardom; queer Italian cinema; immigration and postcolonialism; self-reflexivity and postmodernism; popular genre cinema; digitalization; contemporary Italian cinema; Italian genre film; the Italian character; Italian film stars; The Mezzogiorno; music in Italian cinema; Italian Silent Cinema; Gilles Deleuze; Catholicism and Italian cinema; Federico Fellini; Carlo Lizzani; Alberto Sordi