Friday 3 July, 7.30pm at the Regent Street Cinema, 307 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW
Nervosa Pictures, in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of Warwick, with the endorsement of Italian Cultural Institute of London, present the launch of the exhibition
Above and Below the Line: the Labour of Women in Post-War Italian Cinema
A screening of compilations of extracts from interviews with women who recount their experiences of working in the Italian film industry will be followed by a panel discussion with contemporary Italian female filmmakers working in different roles: Roberta Bonomi (editor), Giulia Gandini (TV Director), Ilaria Fulvio (Assistant Camera), Eleonora Pesci (Acquisition manager at Curzon), Maria Laura Ventura (Line Producer at Disney), Eleonora Cao Pinna (Assistant Director). Moderated by Alessandra Gonnella (Filmmaker and Founder of Nervosa Pictures).
The photographic exhibition Above and Below the Line: the Labour of Women in Post-War Italian Cinema celebrates five women whose work shaped post-war Italian cinema, through rare archival photographs and biographies: Suso Cecchi d’Amico, screenwriter; Cecilia Mangini, documentary director; Mara Blasetti, production manager and assistant director; Isa Bartalini, assistant director; Anna Gruber, script supervisor.
Developed as part of a collaborative research project between the University of Warwick, Oxford Brookes University and Cineteca di Bologna, it builds on the original exhibition presented in Bologna last summer. Highlighting roles such as assistant directors, screenwriters, script supervisors and stills photographers, the exhibition brings visibility to women whose contributions were often overlooked in a historically male-dominated industry. An opportunity to rediscover their stories and their impact on films that have defined Italian cinema worldwide.
Buy your ticket for the launch HERE
As part of the programme that accompanies the exhibition, the Regent Street Cinema will host a Special Screening of THE LEOPARD – The Woman Behind Visconti’s Masterpiece, followed by a panel with Professor Stephen Gundle and Visconti scholar Rossana Capitano.
The film was co-written by Suso Cecchi D’Amico, one of the women featured in the exhibition.
Tickets for the screening HERE
This London programme is produced by Nervosa Pictures, founded by Italian-British filmmaker Alessandra Gonnella, and commissioned by Professor Stephen Gundle and the University of Warwick, with the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Cineteca di Bologna, Regent Street Cinema, Zonin Prosecco and COMITES London. Endorsed by the Italian Cultural Institute of London.
Graphics of the London exhibition are made by Icastic Design.
Poster image: Isa Bartalini and Sophia Loren by Sergio Strizzi, courtesy of Melissa Strizzi.