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Paisan| Paisa – dir. Roberto Rossellini, 1946

date: 01/08/2011, time: 14:45, place: The Big Cinema, film program: retrospective of Robert Rossellini, artistic program: films
film program: Viaggio in Italia,

IT | 1946 | b&w | 120 min
dir | Roberto Rossellini pro | Rod E. Geiger, Roberto Rossellini, Mario Conti wr | Sergio Amidei, Klaus Mann, Federico Fellini, Marcello Pagliero, Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini, Roberto Rossellini ph | Otello Martelli mus | Renzo Rossellini ed | Eraldo Da Roma cast | Carmela Sazio, Robert Van Loon, Benjamin Emanuel, Raymond Campbell

The famous French critic, André Bazin claimed that “Paisan” was of the same importance for European movie as Citizen Kane was for Hollywood: an unbelievable progress in reflecting reality in cinema. “Paisan” consists of six episodes, which take place during Allied liberation of Italy in 1943 – 44. Rossellini sets out on a journey tracing American soldiers, from south to the north, from Sicily to Po Valley, shooting consequences caused by meeting of two different cultures represented by Italian people and their American liberators. From instantaneous shots of “Paisan” appears a description of tragic as well as absurd situation of Italian nation at the end of the World War II: masterful mixture of document and fiction with reliable roles of local, unprofessional actors.

AWARDS
1950 Academy Awards – Oscar nomination in category Best Writing, Story and Screenplay
1949 BAFTA Awards – BAFTA Film Award nomination in category Best Film
1948 New York Film Critics Circle Awards – NYFCC Award in category Best Foreign Language Film
1947 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists – Silver Ribbon in categories: Best Director, Best Film