WOMEN IN ITALIAN FILM PRODUCTION: INDUSTRIAL HISTORIES AND GENDERED LABOUR, 1945-85

The dominant accounts of Italian cinema have often erased completely the contributions of women. How widely is it known, even among specialists of Italian cinema, that the most canonical film of Italian neorealism, Roma città aperta (Rome Open City, 1945), was edited by a woman, Jolanda Benvenuti? Or that such prominent directors as Alessandro Blasetti and Vittorio De Sica relied heavily on the contributions of their female assistant directors, respectively Isa Bartalini and Luisa Alessandri? To what extent even has proper merit been given to Suso Cecchi d'Amico, for many years the only credited female screenwriter in Italy? Beyond these women, there are many others whose names can be found in the lower reaches of film credits and hundreds of anonymous workers whose names have not been recorded at all. This project will challenge the prevailing narratives of male achievement by shedding light on the invisible women who worked in the industry during its heyday. The project will for the first time systematically investigate the place of women in the rise and affirmation of the Italian film industry in the decades after World War Two until its decline in the 1980s. Compared to many other film industries, there were few women in responsible/decision-making roles in Italy in the 1940s and 1950s. Later also, the women who entered the industry often fulfilled support roles that have not conventionally achieved much recognition.
The project will make a substantial contribution to the growing body of research on women in film industries by studying existing archives from a new perspective and bringing new archives into the public realm. It will contribute to an understanding of the extent to which women played a creative part at all levels of Italian cinema between the 1940s and the emergence of a handful of female directors in the 1970s. The Italian industry is especially interesting because it presents characteristics very different from the American and British industries which have formed the object of most research on female cinema workers. These include a high level of state involvement and political interference throughout its history, the predominance of small and medium-sized enterprises with a strong family component rather than large studios, and patchy unionisation - all of which can also be found in other European and extra-European countries.
The project will gather oral testimonies from women who worked in the industry in different roles, including producer, screenwriter, assistant director, production manager, secretary, legal advisor, film editor and costumier. These stories will be read alongside the personal papers of three key women who worked in different spheres: the screenwriter Suso Cecchi D'Amico (held-privately), the production manager Mara Blasetti (Cineteca di Bologna) and the documentary film-maker Cecilia Mangini (Cineteca di Bologna). In addition, team members will study a wide range of personal and industry archives held in public institutions in Italy as well as France, the UK and the USA. In some cases, this will entail re-visiting major archives like those of the directors of Blasetti, De Sica, Visconti and the producer Cristaldi, researching the contributions of women like Bartalini and Alessandri who worked in the background, in assistant and secretarial roles. In other cases, such as that of Suso Cecchi D'Amico and her daughters, and the producers Marina Cicogna and Marina Piperno, it will involve reintegrating overlooked or under-acknowledged women into the understanding of both the creative and industrial aspects of Italian cinema.
The project will engage with key women in industry and sector associations in Italy and the UK to raise awareness of the historical contribution of women in national and international industries and to shed light on the longstanding factors shaping ongoing forms of gendered labour, remunerative inequalities and sexual harassment in contemporary media industries.