Proposal

Necs2017 Conference.

Rediscovering reality: the New-Realism of Nanni Moretti.

The proposal aims at giving a new reading of Nanni Moretti’s latest films through
the lens of Maurizio Ferraris’ New Realism. If Moretti’s first productions
‘encounter’ reality in order to bring to the screen a critical image of Italy charged
with political implications, the last films define a new relation with the real that
is centred on the concept of unamendability of reality. This opens up new forms
of engagement that go beyond the strictly political.

Many elements connect the early films of Nanni Moretti to Italian Neorealism:
the encounter with a reality that was not showed on screen before, the time of
“visual emergency” in which the films were produced (post-Fascist Italy and the
crisis-ridden nation of the 1970s), the low budget nature of the productions (that
in turn had an influence on the cinematic language), different filmic elements
(the gaze of the child, the use of non-professional actors, Rome, the documentary
style).
Throughout the years, Moretti and his ‘cinema of encounter’ were able to create
an original representation of Italy that comprised elements of radical criticism.

The latest production of Moretti, instead, includes films that deal with life
changing events: the death of a son, a separation and an encounter, an escape,
the sickness and death of a mother. The characters complete a transformative
journey that redefines their place in the world, their relation with the real. In
these stories the protagonist (a grieving father, a failed filmmaker, a newly
elected Pope and a grieving son) accepts the unamendability of reality1: the
knowledge that reality cannot be corrected leaves the way to a new life.

Keywords: Nanni Moretti, Neorealism, New Realism, Italy, Zavattini

Ferraris, M. (2014). Introduction to New Realism. London: Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Rascaroli L., & Mazierska E. (2005). The Cinema of Nanni Moretti: Dreams and
Diaries. New York: Wallflower Press.
Jameson, F. (1992). Signatures of the Visible. New York: Routledge.
Shiel, M. (2006). Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City. London:
Wallflower Press.
Zavattini, C. (1952-1953). A Thesis on Italian Neorealism, in: Spring Time in Italy:
A Reader On Neo-Realism, p. 67-78, Edited by: Overbey, D. (1979). London: Shoe
String Press Inc.
Zizek, S. (1999). The ticklish subject: the absent centre of political ontology,
London; New York: Verso.

1
Ferraris, M. (2014). Introduction to New Realism. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.