Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Filmmaker and the Milanese Independent Cinema of the 1980s and 1990s
- 2 Light and Liminal: Marinella Pirelli’s Cinema
- 3 From Vertov to Cine-Journals: Cesare Zavattini’s Experimental Journey
- 4 Gianfranco Brebbia: The ‘Absurd’, Expanded Quality of Experimental Cinema (1962–73)
- 5 Italian Family Films: The Case of the Archivio Nazionale di Bologna
- 6 Independence as Opposition? Redefining Political Cinema Through the Case of Mirko Locatelli
- 7 Travelling the World: The Essay Films of Massimo Bacigalupo (1968–77)
- 8 Tales of Courage: Trade Stories of Italian Independent Cinema
- 9 Niccolò Bruna’s Ethical Process as Social Engagement: Upholding Human Stories against a Backdrop of Globalisation
- 10 The Paradox of ‘Independence’ in Cyberspace: The Case of Italian Experimental and Independent Cinema
- Index
8 - Tales of Courage: Trade Stories of Italian Independent Cinema
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Filmmaker and the Milanese Independent Cinema of the 1980s and 1990s
- 2 Light and Liminal: Marinella Pirelli’s Cinema
- 3 From Vertov to Cine-Journals: Cesare Zavattini’s Experimental Journey
- 4 Gianfranco Brebbia: The ‘Absurd’, Expanded Quality of Experimental Cinema (1962–73)
- 5 Italian Family Films: The Case of the Archivio Nazionale di Bologna
- 6 Independence as Opposition? Redefining Political Cinema Through the Case of Mirko Locatelli
- 7 Travelling the World: The Essay Films of Massimo Bacigalupo (1968–77)
- 8 Tales of Courage: Trade Stories of Italian Independent Cinema
- 9 Niccolò Bruna’s Ethical Process as Social Engagement: Upholding Human Stories against a Backdrop of Globalisation
- 10 The Paradox of ‘Independence’ in Cyberspace: The Case of Italian Experimental and Independent Cinema
- Index
Summary
Instead of keeping the film in a drawer and showing it only at a few festivals, this choice [of self-distribution] was another act of courage. I believe that this film collected a record of acts of courage. A film that wasn't even expected to exist: that did not have the money to be shot and it was shot; that didn't have the possibility of being distributed and it was distributed door to door; that was not expected to be pleasing or to have a large audience and it had a large audience to the point of becoming the independent film of the year. If this is not a miracle …
Beppe Masengo Backstage video for E fu sera e fu mattina (And There Was Evening and There Was Morning, 2014)Introduction
This chapter investigates trade stories of independent filmmaking in Italy in the new millennium as presented in DVD bonus materials and in documentaries on Italian cinema. In particular, it examines trade stories which feature ‘against-all-odds’ narratives, including tales of success and/or frustration when facing a variety of challenges, such as: securing adequate funds for a film's production, shooting on a low-budget and in a short number of weeks, and initiating and promoting a film's theatrical run. Expanding upon recent scholarship by Jonathan Gray on media paratexts and John Caldwell on trade stories in Hollywood, this chapter analyses the role that ‘against-all-odds’ tales play in the independent Italian film scene.
In Production Culture, Caldwell analyses different genres of trade stories and their cultural functions. He states that the different genres are not reserved for any particular production community, but he does note a tendency of ‘below-the-line’ workers (camera operators, editors, grips and the like) in Hollywood to utilise ‘war stories’ and ‘against-all-odds allegories’ in an effort to celebrate their strength, ingenuity and persistence. Caldwell identifies four major themes in the ‘against-all-odds’ trade story genre. First, such narratives often highlight the ‘humble, unexceptional origins [of film workers] needed to create the rising action and dramatic arc of the classical myth of heroism’. Second, this genre places an emphasis on the ‘tenacity of the worker’ and how his or her persistence resulted in a ‘well-earned success’.
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- Information
- Experimental and Independent Italian CinemaLegacies and Transformations into the Twenty-First Century, pp. 180 - 201Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2020