Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema

The Way South(nl)

Johan van der Keuken went against the grain in 1980: from Amsterdam (on April 30 with the coronation riots and squatting actions) via Paris, southern France and Italy to Egypt. He made his personal travelogue in three parts for VPRO television. Later, he fused the three parts into one long movie.

The Devil and Father Amorth(en)

William Friedkin attends an exorcism with Father Gabriele Amorth, as he treats an Italian woman named Cristina for the ninth time. Prior to filming, Cristina had purportedly been experiencing behavioural changes and “fits” that could not be explained by psychiatry, and which became worse during Christian holidays.

Il Grande Cretto di Gibellina(en)

An enormous shroud of white cement covers a hillside in the remote of western Sicily. It is both land art and a memorial to the town of Gibellina that was devastated by an earthquake in January 1968. It’s a work by the Italian artist Alberto Burri. He covered the ruins of the town with white cement and fissures function as pathways that wind through an area of roughly 20 acres. Petra Noordkamp captures Il Grande Cretto di Gibellina by Alberto Burri as an experentiental work of art filled with a sense of place and history.

The Amanda Knox Saga(en)

Amanda Knox served four years in an Italian prison for the murder of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in Perugia in 2007, always insisting on her innocence. In 2011, she was acquitted on the basis of DNA evidence but prosecutors successfully appealed and her acquittal was struck down. In 2014 she was again found guilty in absentia after a retrial and sentenced to 28 years and six months in jail. The saga came to and end when Italy's highest court overturned the convictions of Ms Knox and her former boyfriend, Italian student Raffaele Sollecito in March 2015. Known burglar Rudy Guede was arrested a short time later following the discovery of his bloodstained fingerprints on Kercher's possessions. He was later found guilty of murder in a fast-track trial and is currently (as of 2019) serving a 16-year prison sentence.

Gary Lineker: My Grandad's War(en)

Presenter and former England football captain Gary Lineker follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, Stanley Abbs, to explore a brutal but often overlooked chapter of World War Two.

Italomodern – Design(de)

Lo spazio che vive I 75 anni del CEIS di Rimini(it)

From Napoli With Love(en)

Luca lives for pizza. In an attempt to create a documentary about the cultural exchange between Neapolitan and Windsor pizza, the Covid-19 pandemic diminishes any hopes of flying to Italy and exploring his cultural background. With an infinite amount of free time, (and a hunger for pizza), Luca and his twin sister, Gemma, aim to save the documentary.

Out of the Interior: Survival of the small-town cinema in British Columbia(en)

The hard-working cinema owners and operators of the small towns found in BC's southern interior are doing more than showing movies and selling popcorn––they are bringing their communities together.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Il mio nome è Battaglia(it)

The Real Beauty and the Beast(en)

It's a condition known as "hypertrichosis" or "Ambras Syndrome," but in the 1500s it would transform one man into a national sensation and iconic fairy-tale character. His name: Petrus Gonsalvus, more commonly known today as the hairy hero of Beauty and the Beast.

Tin Tan(en)

Germán Cipriano Gómez Valdés Castillo, a young radio announcer from Cuidad Juárez, succeeds in drawing attention to the pachuco movement through his character Tin Tan, laying the groundwork for a new form of binational and mass linguistic expression: Spanglish. He soon became a leading figure in theater and film on the American Continent. Singled out by critics as a destroyer of the language, he quickly won the approval of the public. His ability to improvise revolutionized the film industry. His talent as an actor, singer, dancer and comedian contributed to the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. From El Hijo Desobediente to Capitán Mantarraya, from Cuidad Juárez to Havana, from mambo to rock, the legacy of Tin Tan makes him one of the great icons of Mexico today. This film tells his story as it has never been told before.

Siddharta(en)

Siddharta and Fabrizio, one of them nine years old, the other one 65, are the core of a community that renounces every civilising comfort. We are their guests – for one summer.

Hollywood Rated 'R'(en)

A roller-coaster ride through the history of American exploitation films, ranging from Roger Corman's sci-fi and horror monster movies, 1960s beach movies, H.G. Lewis' gore-fests, William Castle's schlocky theatrical gimmicks, to 1970s blaxploitation, pre-"Deep Throat" sex tease films, Russ Meyer's bosom-heavy masterpieces, etc, etc. Over 25 interviews of the greatest purveyors of weird films of all kind from 1940 to 1975. Illustrated with dozens of films clips, trailers, extra footage, etc. This documentary as a shorter companion piece focusing on exploitation king David F. Friedman.

Fascism in Colour(en)

After the World War I, Mussolini's perspective on life is severely altered; once a willful socialist reformer, now obsessed with the idea of power, he founds the National Fascist Party in 1921 and assumes political power in 1922, becoming the Duce, dictator of Italy. His success encourages Hitler to take power in Germany in 1933, opening the dark road to World War II. (Originally released as a two-part miniseries. Includes colorized archival footage.)

Libere(it)

Tour de Pise, l'inébranlable édifice(fr)

Lo que vale un peine(es)

The Man with the Lantern(it)

To discover the truth behind the mysterious objects her uncle brought back from the Far East during her childhood, filmmaker Francesca Lixi embarks on a journey to those places through archival footage.