L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 I s it true that a film can help us better understand ourselves? Is it through the big screen that we too can tell our story? Since the ans w er to both of thes e questions is affirmative, L 'Italo-Am er icano w ill dedicate this month's issue to deepen the relationship between the Italian culture and the s eventh art; an industry that gave Cinecittà its fame and has produced Hollywood stars that are capable of trans forming their Italian or Italo- A merican origins into talents. O ur pages , w hether those composed in Italian or in English, never cease to give proper recognition to actors, directors, screen writers, or leading stars. This is not done just to fill pages regarding films, but we intentionally chose this art form as a representation of Italy which has excelled for a long time thanks to our great readers of national and popular culture. If it had not been for the Neorealism of Vittorio De Sica, the imaginary vision of Federico Fellini, the personification of human drama with Sophia Loren's persuasive nature in La Ciociare and Roberto Benigni's tragic madness in La Vita è Bella, and if the dreamy atmosphere of Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso had not linked the past with what we are today, nor if Paolo Sorrentino's La Grande Bellezza had not told a part of what we deny to be or what we wish would not be, we would know much less about Italy and about the Italians. This is not said with patriotic pride, but with the intellectual honesty of those who know that even a portrait, so to speak, of fantasy, contains elements of profound authenticity. The allure of cinema that narrates stories of Italy and of the Italians From the director Oscars aside, how strongly would we be able to recognize ourselves as Italians if it had not been for the interpretations of Alberto Sordi or Marcello Mastroianni, who in very different ways, yet both extremely effective, have succeeded in describing the different types of Italians so well? How much of the culture or awareness of ourselves or the society in which we live, would we have if it had not been for Mario Monicelli, Sergio Leone, or Dino Risi? All theatrically famous, yet never having received nor were they ever candidates for best foreign film. Cinema has always given us the opportunity to ask ourselves about the weight and importance of audiovisual communication in the construction or collective memory. We should not forget that it has often been the "fault" of films that have spread stereotypes that have penalized of continue to victimize Italians. It is known that a movie acts as a filter of interpretation constituted by the vision of an author as much as the particular political and cultural climate, which is why even a documentary does not tell an entire truth. It is true, however, that without these fundamental points of views, we would not know, in many cases, how we came to be what we are today and what "gli Anni di Piombo" (the Italian period of political turmoil of the '70s), "La Dolce Vita" or The Great Boom left us. In conclusion, even if we should not have to take everything we see in the movies at face value, it is still true that thanks to cinema, we can think about ourselves and understand ourselves through this art form which also allows us to create a picture of Italian identity that alternates between the past and the present. By recounting stories about migration, work, and wars, and by telling stories of individuals or groups of people that were forgotten and then rediscovered, fundamentally helps us to not lose the memory we need to better understand the reality in which we live. Simone Schiavinato, Director NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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