Cinema Italia

Maathew Page joins John Bleasdale to discuss the career of Alice Rohrwacher and specifically her debut film from 2011, Heavenly Body, (Corpo Celeste). 13 year old Marta is preparing for her confirmation at the local Catholic church but soon finds that her own faith doesn't help her to fit in with the new home she has recently moved to. Alice Rohrwacher's new film La Chimera is released this month in the UK.

In the rubble of a Rome which still smelled of gunpowder, Roberto Rossellini filmed Roma Città Aperta (Rome Open City), a film that stands as an inaugural moment in Italian Neorealism and as a hugely influential masterpiece in world cinema. Giulia Saccogna is the programmer of a new season of films at the BFI - Chasing the Real: Italian Neorealism - which will include a 4K restoration of Rome Open City. Tickets are available here.

A 1979 Italian nunsploitation horror film, Killer Nun was directed by Giulio Berruti and starred Anita Ekberg, Joe Dallesandro, Lou Castel, and Alida Valli. Its plot follows a nun who, after recovering from brain surgery, grows increasingly paranoid that her health is again declining; she begins indulging in opioids from the hospital in which she works, and spirals into addiction and madness with violent consequences.Nicholas Bell is a film critic who writes for EyeOnCinema and on his YouTube channel Fish Jelly Film Reviews.

Lillian Crawford talks about Luchino Visconti's 1977 adaptation of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice.Lillian is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Little White Lies, Sight and Sound and the Times Literary Supplement as well as many other places. Her personal website can be visited here. The Music for the podcast is provided by Two Minute Noodles and more can be found here.

The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (Italian: Signore & Signori, literally "Ladies and Gentlemen") is a 1966 italian film directed by Pietro Germi.It won the Grand Prix with A Man and a Woman at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival and was later selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.Jo-Ann Titmarsh is a film critic and travel writer whose work has appeared in The Evening Standard, HeyUGuys and Lonely Planet.The Music for the podcast is provided by Two Minute Noodles and more can be found here.

Assunta Spina starring Francesca Bertini is a classic Diva silent from 1915. (View it here). Writer and critic and expert in silent cinema Pamela Hutchinson gives her insight into where to start with Italian silent cinema. Here is a link to her blog.Music is by Two Minute Noodles, available here.

John Bleasdale talks to film maker and writer James Peaty about Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Elio Petri's 1970 film, starring Gian Maria Volonté and Florinda Bolkan. A psychological, black-humored satire on corruption in high office, it tells the story of a top police officer who kills his mistress, and then tests whether the police would charge him for this crime. The film was released in Italy by Euro International Pictures on 9 February 1970, to widespread acclaim from critics. It won the Jury Prize at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival, and the David di Donatello Awards for Best Film for Best Actor (Gian Maria Volonté). In the United States, it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Petri and his co-writer Ugo Pirro were nominated for Best Original Screenplay.The Music for the podcast is provided by Two Minute Noodles and more can be found here.

For a Few Dollars More confirmed the arrival of the Spaghetti Western as a new genre. Further enshrining Clint Eastwood's Man with no Name, it added also Lee Van Cleef to the mix. There is a real maturation of how Ennio Morricone's music is used and an increased confidence in the filmmaking of Leone.Alasdair Satchel is a theatre and filmmaker based on the Isle of Mull, Scotland.He is the host of the podcast What We do in the Winter, available here.The Music for the podcast is provided by Two Minute Noodles and more can be found here.

Ettore Scola's 1976 comedy is an exercise is grotesque humour about a family living in a Roman slum within sight of the Vatican. Trailer here.The Music for the podcast is provided by Two Minute Noodles and more can be found here.