Minerva Film was an Italian

film production Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

company active between 1912 and 1956. It should not be confused with a similarly-named Danish production house. Founded during the

silent era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

, the company was named after the

Roman goddess Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the ...

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

. Originally a distribution company, it handled major foreign productions for release in Italy. It was one of the major companies of the later Fascist period along with

Lux The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the irradiance, as perceived by ...

Titanus Titanus (also called Titanus Distribuzione) is an Italian film production and distribution company, founded in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951). The company's headquarters are located at 28 Via Sommacampagna, Rome and its studios on the Vi ...

and

Scalera Film Scalera Film was an Italian film production and film distribution, distribution company which operated between 1938 and 1950. It had strong backing from the Italian state, as the Kingdom of Italy#Fascist regime (1922–1943), Fascist government of ...

. It both distributed and made films through its subsidiary Excelsa Film. In 1946 the company was involved in a legal dispute with

David Selznick David O. Selznick (born David Selznick; May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award ...

over the contract of star

Alida Valli Baroness Alida Maria Laura 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, span ...

. A major fire occurred in 1947 at the company's offices in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

.Striuli pp.103-129 Minerva continued operation as a distributor until it went into liquidation in 1956.

References

Bibliography

* Gundle, Stephen. ''Fame Amid the Ruins: Italian Film Stardom in the Age of Neorealism''. Berghahn Books, 2019. * Boisen, Ingolf, ''Klip fra en filmmandsliv'' * Striuli, Federico, ''Al fuoco! La tragedia della Minerva Film'' '' ire! The tragedy of the Minerva Film', "Immagine. Note di Storia del Cinema", no. 7, 2013 (in Italian) Film production companies of Italy Film distributors of Italy {{IT-film-company-stub