Italia - Fire and Ashes + boekpresentatie Ivo Blom

Ivo Blom, Film Studies lecturer at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, presents his new book 'Quo Vadis?, Cabiria and the 'Archaeologists': Early Cinema's Appropriation of Art and Archaeology', an examination of the visual language of Italian silent film. Followed by a screening of Italia, Fire and Ashes and preceded by a discussion with Eye silent film curator Elif Rongen.

Italia, Fire and Ashes (Olivier Bohler, Céline Gailleurd, FR/IT, 2021, 93')

Italian silent cinema is one of the most famous at all, but who knows its origins, its early decades, from 1896 to 1930? In a lyrical way and illustrated by clips from the European Archives, this found-footage documentary lifts Italian silent cinema out of obscurity. Many generations were influenced by the directors, actors and stories from this early period of cinema.

This flourishing film industry gave birth to the ‘peplum’ sub-genre (sword-and-sandal films) and introduced the first big stars of the silver screen. Many film-makers found their own styles thanks to trends of the time in painting, literature, theatre and opera. This world of splendour and decadence is resurrected in the many clips and the voice-over by Isabella Rossellini. The documentary includes footage from several films restored by Eye.