“Surely one of the most astonishing directorial debuts in the history of movies” - Pauline Kael, The New Yorker.

I Pugni in Tasca (Fist in the Pocket) made in 1965 was a striking debut feature film by the 26 year old Marco Bellocchio and features a haunting score by Ennio Morricone. The film centres on an eldest son’s radical approach to dealing with his dysfunctional family, challenging the traditional conception of Italian family values in a way which foreshadows the imminent youth rebellion and social upheaval which was about to break in Italy and further afield.

Like the celebrated groundbreaking youthful brashness of the Nouvelle Vague in France, I Pugni in Tasca was a visual rejection of the norm. However unlike those French filmmakers who broke away from the complacency of the “cinema du papa,” Bellocchio’s debut has long been overshadowed by the seismic influence of Neo-realism pre-1960 and by the great Italian auteur cinema of Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini and Bertolucci which followed. This restoration affords an opportunity to approach this this important classic of Italian cinema anew.

With an introduction by Guy Borlée, part of the team at Cineteca di Bologna who were responsible for the restoration.

Restored by Kavac Film and Cineteca di Bologna in 2015. With thanks to The Match Factory.

This event is presented by Bologna’s Il Cinema Ritrovato the inspiration for Cinema Rediscovered with thanks to Cineteca Di Bologna.

Image c/o Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna

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