Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence
classified 18 (CTBA)Only three features, two short documentaries, and a few surviving fragments remain of the work of Elvira Notari, Italy’s first female film director. Though her life remains partly shrouded in mystery – she left no letters or diaries, and only a couple photographs of her exist – today, 150 years after her birth, her legacy is coming back to light.
A leading figure in the golden age of Neapolitan silent cinema, Notari created more than sixty films that, blending popular culture with a clear-eyed look at everyday life, captivated audiences from Naples to the Little Italies of America. With the arrival of talkies and constrained by Fascist censorship, she abandoned cinema in 1930 and her work fell into silence.
Now, Elvira returns to centre stage thanks to scholars and artists who are reviving and reinterpreting her legacy through new creations. Weaving together historical memory and contemporary rediscovery, Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence paints a vivid, prismatic portrait of a film pioneer whose vision continues to resonate in the present.
Presented with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in London and in partnership with South West Silents.
Presented in collaboration with University of Bristol, this screening will be followed by a discussion with the film's director Valerio Ciriaci and producer Antonella Di Nocera, and University of Bristol academics Prof. Catherine O’Rawe and Prof. Carol O'Sullivan.
- Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence on Tue 5 May is part of our Cinébites deal: get 30% off any main dish in the Café & Bar with a valid ticket for Club Shed members.