Memories in context: the social and economic function of cinema in 1950s Rome

Daniela Treveri Gennari, John David Sedgwick

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    Abstract

    During the 1950s, cinema in Italy blossomed, bringing film entertainment to Italians on an unprecedented scale. This study draws upon the testimony of 325 elderly Romans about their cinema going experiences during this period. Their memories are set in the particular context of the film programs that they (and fellow film goers) selected—information that is derived from daily newspapers and supplemented with trade listings of the most popular films screened in Rome. In producing a bottom-up account of cinema going, the paper contributes to the general debate about film culture in Italy in the postwar era.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)76-104
    JournalFilm History: An International Journal
    Volume27
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2015

    Keywords

    • postwar Italian cinema
    • roman audiences
    • oral history
    • film programming
    • film distribution
    • film tastes
    • cinemagoing

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