Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1962 • Italy
Starring Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti
Anna Magnani is Mamma Roma, a middle-aged prostitute who attempts to extricate herself from her sordid past for the sake of her son. Filmed in the great tradition of Italian neorealism, MAMMA ROMA offers an unflinching look at the struggle for survival in postwar Italy, and highlights director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s lifelong fascination with the marginalized and dispossessed. Though banned upon its release in Italy for obscenity, today MAMMA ROMA remains a classic, featuring a powerhouse performance by one of cinema’s greatest actresses and offering a glimpse at a country’s most controversial director in the process of finding his style.
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1964 • Italy
Starring Pier Paolo Pasolini, Lello Bersani
In 1964, Pier Paolo Pasolini took to the streets of Italy, armed with a camera and microphone, to interview a cross section of ordinary Italians about their attitudes towards sex and sexuality. Interrogati...
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1964 • Italy, France
Starring Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini
A biblical film that only the Marxist, atheist Pier Paolo Pasolini could make, this starkly beautiful cinematic Passion play takes its dialogue directly from the titular holy tex...
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1966 • Italy
Starring Totò, Ninetto Davoli, Femi Benussi
Pier Paolo Pasolini deconstructs his twin interests—Catholicism and Marxism—in this subversive, fable-like comedy. Italian-cinema icon Totò (in his final starring role) and Pasolini muse Ninetto Davoli sta...
