Realism Across Borders : The Role of State Institutions in Making Italian Neo-Realist Film Transnational

This case study investigates the role of state institutions in the molding of Italian neo-realism as a transnational phenomenon. Conventionally, the birth of Italian neo-realism is associated with Rossellini’s Open City and the end of World War II; however, its transnational story already begins in the late 1930s and early 1940s when the project of a new Italian cinema was initiated by a group of young film intellectuals. Focusing on the discourse surrounding the creation of this new realism in Italian film, we examine its transnational dimension as it manifests itself in the production history of a sample of lesser known films that put Italy in touch with other countries. Some of these films were the result of international coproduction agreements (for instance René Clément’s The Walls of Malapaga), some represented foreign characters or involved foreign professionals (Joseph Losey’s Stranger on the Prowl), whereas the international distribution of yet others resulted in diplomatic tensions and wrangles (Roberto Rossellini’s The Miracle). Of special interest in these contexts will be to scrutinize the means deployed by Italian government institutions to control film production and police the kind of realist content that could be sanctioned, but also to examine how the films’ potential for international circulation in turn curbed and modified those very decision-making processes.