The Centro sperimentale di cinematografia (Experimental Film Centre or Italian National film school) was established in 1935 in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and aims to promote the art and technique of

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

. The centre is the oldest film school in Western Europe, founded in the city of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1935 during the

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

era by his head of cinema Luigi Freddi. It was and still is financed by the Italian government and focuses on education, research, publication, and theory.

Function

Among the centre's goals are the development of cinema and audio-visual art and techniques to levels of excellence through distinct sectors of the Foundation itself, the National Film School, and the National Film Archive. The National Film School has its main headquarters in Rome, with triennial courses in acting,

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, f ...

writing,

production design In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wor ...

, set design, as well as costuming,

, sound engineering, production, and

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...

. It is a full member of the international

CILECT The International Association of Film and Television Schools (French: ''Centre international de liaison des écoles de cinéma et de télévision'', CILECT) is the association of the world's major film and television schools.World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, much of the original production equipment was stolen or destroyed by the Nazi occupiers. Many attempts to trace them in Germany and the Soviet Union after the war were unsuccessful.Fausto Montesanti, at the time director of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, in ''Sperduti nel buio... a mezzogiorno'', article appeared on ''Bianco e nero'', n. 6, of June 1953

Facilities

Located near

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studio ...

, the school trains its students using 35mm equipment over a 3-year period. With only 6 places available per class, selection is highly competitive. The school's mentors include Piero Tosi (costumes), Giuseppe Rotunno (photography), and Giancarlo Giannini (acting). Alumni include:

Directors

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

Giuseppe De Santis Giuseppe De Santis (11 February 1917 – 16 May 1997) was an Italian film director. One of the most idealistic neorealist filmmakers of the 1940s and 1950s, he wrote and directed films punctuated by ardent cries for social reform. He was ...

* Luigi Zampa *

Pietro Germi Pietro Germi (; 14 September 1914 – 5 December 1974) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor, noted for his development of the neorealist and commedia all'Italiana genres. His 1961 film '' Divorce Italian Style'' earned him a ...

* Francesco Maselli *

Nanni Loy Nanni Loy (born Giovanni Loi; 23 October 1925 – 21 August 1995) was an Italian film, theatre and TV director. Specifically, Nanni Loy was Sardinian, and one of several notable Sardinian film makers, including Franco Solinas. Biography Lo ...

* Folco Quilici *

Christian Filippella Christian Filippella is a producer, cinematographer and director, current member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the Television Academy (ATAS/NATAS). Filippella began working as an independent filmmaker in Spain and Ireland. He was a ...

Domenico Distilo Domenico Distilo (born 25 December 1978 in Rome, Lazio, Italy) is a filmmaker living and working between Rome, Italy and Berlin, Germany. He graduated in film direction from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome with the film '' U ...

Lucio Fulci Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and Spaghetti Westerns, he ga ...

Emidio Greco Emidio Greco (20 October 1938 – 22 December 2012) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, best known for the 1974 film '' Morel's Invention''. Life and career Born in Leporano, in the province of Taranto, Greco moved in Turin as ...

* Carlo Verdone *

Francesca Archibugi Francesca Archibugi (; born 16 May 1960) is an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Life and career Born and raised in Rome in an intellectual family (her elder brother is the political and economic theorist Daniele Archibugi), she started t ...

Liliana Cavani Liliana Cavani (born 12 January 1933, Carpi, Italy) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. She belongs to a generation of Italian filmmakers from Emilia-Romagna that came into prominence in the 1970s, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Pier P ...

* Umberto Lenzi * Silvano Agosti * Marco Bellocchio *

Roberto Faenza Roberto Faenza (born 21 February 1943) is an Italian film director. Born in Turin in 1943, Faenza received a degree in Political Science and a diploma at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Career Faenza made his directing debut in 1968 ...

Fausto Brizzi Fausto Brizzi (born 15 November 1968, in Rome) is an Italian screenwriter, producer and film director. Biography Fausto Brizzi got a Degree in directing at the "Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia" in July 1994. After several theatrical ex ...

Yasuzo Masumura was a Japanese film director. Biography Masumura was born in Kōfu, Yamanashi. After dropping out of a law course at the University of Tokyo he worked as an assistant director at the Daiei Film studio, later returning to university to study ph ...

* Salvatore Mereu *

Gabriele Muccino Gabriele Muccino (; born 20 May 1967) is an Italian film director. He has worked his way from making short films only aired on Italian television to become a well-known and successful American filmmaker. He is the elder brother of actor Silvio Mu ...

Giuseppe Petitto Giuseppe Petitto (11 July 1969 – 2 September 2015) was an Italian film director. Career Born in Catanzaro, Petitto was a graduate of the National Film School in Rome, Italy (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia), also holding a bachelor's degree ...

Susanna Nicchiarelli Susanna Nicchiarelli (; born 6 May 1975) is an Italian director, actress and screenwriter. Biography Nicchiarelli graduated in Philosophy at the Sapienza University in Rome and gained a PhD in Philosophy at the Scuola Normale in Pisa and a Dir ...

* Eros Puglielli * Sergio Sollima * Roberta Torre *

Paolo Virzì Paolo Virzì (; born 4 March 1964) is an Italian film director, writer and producer. Early life and work Virzì was born in Livorno, Italy in 1964, as the son of a Sicilian police officer in the Carabinieri and a former singer. After spending ...

* Veljko Bulajic * Margaret Tait

Actors

Giorgio Albertazzi Giorgio Albertazzi (20 August 1923 – 28 May 2016) was an Italian actor and film director. Born in San Martino a Mensola, Tuscany, Albertazzi joined the Italian Social Republic and reached the rank of lieutenant. After their defeat, he spe ...

Maria Pia Calzone Maria Pia Calzone (; born 10 October 1967) is an Italian actress, best known for playing the boss's wife, as Immacolata "Imma" Savastano, in the television series, '' Gomorrah''. She graduated from Italy's national film school, the Centro Sperime ...

Claudia Cardinale Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938) is an Italian actress. She has starred in some of the most iconic European films of the 1960s and 1970s, acting in Italian, French, and English. Born and raised in La Goulette, a ...

* Andrea Checchi *

Carla Del Poggio Carla Del Poggio (2 December 1925 – 14 October 2010) was an Italian cinema, theatre, and television actress. Biography Born Maria Luisa Attanasio in Naples, she was the wife of Italian director Alberto Lattuada for 60 years, from 2 April 194 ...

Babak Karimi Babak Karimi ( fa, بابک کریمی, born 1960) is a Czech-Iranian actor. For his role in ''A Separation'', he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in 2011. Filmography Film * ''Tickets'' (2 ...

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

Enrico Lo Verso Enrico Lo Verso (born 18 January 1964) is an Italian actor. He studied acting at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and ''INDA, Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico''. Filmography * '' Atto di dolore'' (1990) * '' A Season of Giants'' (199 ...

Domenico Modugno Domenico Modugno (; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song " Nel blu dipinto di blu", for which he received Grammy ...

* Giovanni Morassutti *

Francesca Neri Francesca Neri (born 10 February 1964) is an Italian actress. Biography Neri was born in Trento, Italy. She has twice received the Silver Ribbon Award for Best Actress from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, for '' Pensavo fos ...

* Lorenzo Richelmy * Simona Tabasco *

Alida Valli Alida Maria Laura, '' Freiin'' Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg (31 May 1921 – 22 April 2006), better known by her stage name Alida Valli (or simply Valli), was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, ...

Cinematographers

* Nestor Almendros * Philo Bregstein * Pasqualino De Santis *

Vittorio Storaro Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C., A.I.C. (born 24 June 1940) is an Italian cinematographer widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history, for his work on numerous classic films including '' The Conformist,'' '' Apocalypse No ...

Costume Designers

* Daniela Ciancio * Anina Pinter

References

External links

* * Film schools in Italy Mass media in Rome Drama schools in Italy {{film-org-stub