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The New Neapolitan Cinema
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Book Presentation:
Vito and the Others (1991), Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician (1992) and Libera (1993), the debuts of three young Neapolitan filmmakers, stood out dramatically from the landscape of Italian cinema in the early 1990s. On the back of their critical success, over the next decade and a half, Naples became a thriving centre for film production.
In this first study in English of one of the most vital and stimulating currents in contemporary European Cinema, Alex Marlow-Mann provides a detailed, multi-faceted and provocative study of this distinct regional tradition. In tracing the movement's relationship with the popular musical melodramas previously produced in Naples, he reveals how contemporary Neapolitan filmmakers have interrogated, subverted and reconfigured cinematic convention as part of a through-going re-examination of Neapolitan identity.
Key features include:
• analyses of over 45 contemporary Italian films, including Paolo Sorrentino's The Consequences of Love, Mario Martone's L'amore molesto, Antonio Capuano's Pianese Nunzio: 14 in May and Vincenzo Marra's Sailing Home
• a theoretical discussion of the concept of regional cinema
• an examination of the movement in its broader context as both product and critique of Mayor Bassolino's 'Neapolitan Renaissance'
• a study of one European film industry in terms of legislation, production, distribution and exhibition.
Alex Marlow-Mann has taught Italian cinema at the universities of Reading, Cardiff and Leeds and has published numerous articles on the subject. He first became interested in Neapolitan cinema when living in the city.
About the Author:
Dr Alex Marlow-Mann is a Lecturer in European Film and Acting Director of B-Film: Birmingham Centre for Film Studies at The University of Birmingham.
Press Reviews:
The best studies of Italian culture are often written by foreigners so perhaps it’s not by chance that The New Neapolitan Cinema, an excellent book by the young English researcher Alex Marlow-Mann, shows up the limitations within which earlier studies of Neapolitan cinema have been carried out... The author works with typically Anglo-Saxon rigour, ferreting through film and book archives; cataloguing films, books and much more besides; compiling and comparing data, percentages, statistics and locations. But he also writes as a scrupulously open-minded historian and critic, offering striking insights and bursts of creativity and avoiding both over- and under-valuation in order to place the phenomenon of the New Neapolitan Cinema back in its correct proportions. (translated from Italian)– Alberto Castellano, Il Manifesto
Scholars of film and Italian Studies will be glad to find this informative, descriptive volume in their libraries…Marlow-Mann’s study helps to fill a void in the scholarship on contemporary Naples in the English-speaking world and provides an accurate and extensive record of the body of works produced by the contemporary Neapolitan filmmakers with very useful appendices.– Patrizia la Treccchia, Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studes
Scholars of film and Italian Studies will be glad to find this informative, descriptive volume in their libraries…Marlow-Mann’s study helps to fill a void in the scholarship on contemporary Naples in the English-speaking world and provides an accurate and extensive record of the body of works produced by the contemporary Neapolitan filmmakers with very useful appendices.– Patrizia La Trecchia, Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studes
Marlow-Mann produces detailed analyses of a substantial body of films enriched by first-hand insights and interviews with directors, as well as a useful set of appendices charting exhibition statistics, figures relating to production companies and audience location. Marlow-Mann’s book is a comprehensive and well-researched discussion of an important cinematic phenomenon whose treatment, in English, has been limited and fragmentary.– Monica Boria, Modern Italy
Marlow-Mann produces detailed analyses of a substantial body of films enriched by first-hand insights and interviews with directors, as well as a useful set of appendices charting exhibition statistics, figures relating to production companies and audience location. Marlow-Mann’s book is a comprehensive and well-researched discussion of an important cinematic phenomenon whose treatment, in English, has been limited and fragmentary.– Monica Boria, Modern Italy
An exemplary piece of scholarship, marshalling a wealth of factual information and an intimate knowledge of a broad range of films, many of which are largely unfamiliar to English language audiences. The book’s analysis of cinema’s role in the construction of identity is steeped in film history and is a rewarding and original comment on the culture of which the New Neapolitan Cinema forms a highly valuable part.– Dr Louis Bayman, Kings College London, Viewfinder
An exemplary piece of scholarship,marshalling a wealth of factual information and an intimate knowledge of a broad range of films,many of which are largely unfamiliar to English language audiences.The book’s analysis of cinema’s role in the construction of identity is steeped in film history and is a rewarding and original comment on the culture of which the New Neapolitan Cinema forms a highly valuable part.– Dr Louis Bayman, Kings College London, Viewfinder
An exemplary piece of scholarship, marshalling a wealth of factual information and an intimate knowledge of a broad range of films, many of which are largely unfamiliar to English language audiences. The book’s analysis of cinema’s role in the construction of identity is steeped in film history and is a rewarding and original comment on the culture of which the New Neapolitan Cinema forms a highly valuable part.– Viewfinder
This superbly researched volume provides a wealth of information on the recent renaissance of filmmaking in Naples, considered in its broader cultural context. Not only does the author build a persuasive analysis of this body of films, but he also offers crucial insights into the conditions of their production.– Áine O'Healy, Loyola Marymount University
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
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