Film 106B

Movies from: Spain

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Movies from: Italy/Transnational

A Fistful of Dollars, Bicycle Thieves, Love & Anarchy

Movies from: France

Cléo from 5 to 7, Les Misérables

Movies from: Germany

Mädchen in Uniform, Head-On, Born in '45

Early 1940s–mid-1950s

Italian Neorealism

Late 1950s–1960s

French New Wave

Early 1960s–early 1980s

New German Cinema

1970s–1980s

La Movida Madrileña

1990s onward

Cinéma de banlieue

Movement: Cinéma de banlieue

Marginalized suburban communities, immigration, social inequality, and policing

Movement: La Movida Madrileña

Cultural freedom and experimentation following Franco's dictatorship

Movement: New German Cinema

Challenging conventional filmmaking and examining German society and history

Movement: French New Wave

Experimentation with editing, narrative, location shooting, and personal filmmaking

Movement: Italian Neorealism

Postwar poverty, ordinary people, location shooting, nonprofessional actors, and realistic storytelling

Historical pattern #1

National film industry develops

Historical pattern #2

War or political upheaval disrupts filmmaking

Historical pattern #3

Government censorship and propaganda

Historical pattern #4

New film movements emerge after political change

Italian Neorealism

Italian Neorealism developed during World War II and the postwar period. Rather than focusing on glamorous characters or idealized stories, filmmakers depicted the everyday struggles of ordinary people, particularly the working class.

Italian Neorealism movies

Bicycle Thieves (1948)