Italian cinema

Episode 17 – 8½ (1963)

It’s 1963. We’re crossing the Atlantic to visit Italy, a preeminent filmmaking country. In the 1950s-60s, Italian film was largely known for Commedia all’Italiana (“Comedy in the Italian way”), spaghetti Westerns (westerns made in Italy), and Post-Neorealism (a movement moving past realism to explore existential themes). Famed Italian director Frederico Fellini pushes past this last…

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Episode 24 – Cabiria (1914)

It’s 1914. Out of Italy comes what many classify as the first film epic. In this silent film, the girl Cabiria survives an eruption from Etna, is kidnapped by pirates, nearly offered to the god Moloch, and spends years as a servant. Meanwhile, Roman soldier Fulvius Axilla and his Samson-like servant Maciste cross paths with…

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