Italian Documentary Movies

A chronicle of the violence that occurred in much of the African continent throughout the 1960s. As many African countries were transitioning from colonial rule to other forms of government, violent political upheavals were frequent. Revolutions in Zanzibar and Kenya in which thousands were killed are shown, the violence not only political; there is also extensive footage of hunters and poachers slaughtering different types of wild animals.

A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-time Oscar winner and the author of over five hundred unforgettable scores.

Somewhat crazy semi-documentary by director Joe D'Amato is a strange series of Burlesque performances from around the globe. Actress and dancer Amanda Lear hosts these mostly musical numbers designed to get people on stage.

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

Pope Francis responds to questions from around the world, discussing topics including ecology, immigration, consumerism and social justice.

In the secret forests of Northern Italy, a dwindling group of joyful old men and their faithful dogs search for the world’s most expensive ingredient, the white Alba truffle. Their stories form a real-life fairy tale that celebrates human passion in a fragile land that seems forgotten in time.

The Istituto Luce turned ninety in 2014, its decades-long history intertwined with that of Italy itself, through cinema and that unique treasure trove of images known to all as the Luce Archives. To celebrate its anniversary, some of the most acclaimed rising filmmakers in Italy were invited to make a small film, with each director selecting ten minutes of footage from the archives, out of the thousands of hours of footage to be found there. The result is an album full of different narratives.

In the early 20th century, impoverished teenage Italian cobbler Salvatore Ferragamo sailed from Naples to America to seek a better life. He settled in Southern California, and became Hollywood's go-to shoemaker during the silent era. In 1927, he returned to Italy and founded in Florence his namesake luxury brand. This feature-length documentary recounts his adventures.

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Italy, Europe and America during the 'Dolce Vita' years narrated with unseen and rare footage from NBC Archives in New York.

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In a race against time and all odds, the revolutionary F1 racing car Ferrari 312B will get back on the Monaco circuit, 46 years later, under the wing of it’s creator, the genius engineer Mauro Forghieri.

The film takes us on a voyage to a hidden Italy rarely addressed on film: Gay Italy as it was lived in the 20th century, from the turn of the century up to the 80s. The documentary gives voice to those who personally had to bear the weight of being "different", remembering how their lives were shaped by this situation during Fascism and in the aftermath of World War II, in an anthropologically and culturally widely diverse nation. Theirs is a mixed testimony of repression, censorship, dignity, courage, and happiness, making way for the final image of a world - our world - that still has a long way to go towards respect and liberty for everyone.

Inmates at a prison in Rome rehearse for a performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

A documentary about the Italian singer Ben.

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Roberto Benigni, Bernardo Bertolucci, Gabriele Salvatores, Paolo Sorrentino and Giuseppe Tornatore talk about their idea of cinema.

A documentary consisting of a series of travelogue vignettes providing glimpses into cultural practices throughout the world intended to shock or surprise, including an insect banquet and a memorable look at a practicing South Pacific cargo cult.

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A historical perspective to understand Neoliberalism and to understand why this ideology today so profoundly influences the choices of our governments and our lives.

The summer in the apecar of a group of teenagers from the Aosta Valley: afternoons and evenings spent between trap music and drifting, fear of the police and parties with friends. School is about to start again and the mountains around are very high.

A look at the 1950s muscle men's magazines and the representative industry which were popular supposedly as health and fitness magazines, but were in reality primarily being purchased by the still-underground homosexual community. Chief among the purveyors of this literature was Bob Mizer, who maintained a magazine and developed sexually inexplicit men's films for over 40 years. Aided by his mother, the two maintained a stable of not so innocent studs.

Water, air, earth, fire, ether. Four different stories that tell and show a reaching out towards immortality. We dedicate the element water to immortality in science, that of air to the immortality of art, that of earth to the immortality of faith and that of fire to the immortality of feelings. Ether, linked to the cosmos and the stars, is a tribute to the film industry.

After the coup d'État of the Democratic government of Allende, the embassy of Italy in Santiago played a major role in helping the opposers of the regime, and extradited many of them to Italy.

Pier Paolo Pasolini sets out to interview Italians about sex, apparently their least favorite thing to talk about in public: he asks children if they know where babies come from; asks old and young women if they support gender equality; asks both sexes if a woman's virginity still matters, what do they think of homosexuality, if divorce should be legal, or if they support the recent abolition of brothels. He interviews blue-collar workers, intellectuals, college students, rural farmers, the bourgeoisie, and every other kind of people, painting a vivid portrait of a rapidly-industrializing Italy, hanging between modernity and tradition — toward both of which Pasolini shows equal distrust.

Jerada is a mining town in Morocco, where coal extraction - officially halted in 2001 - has continued informally to this day. L’mina reconstructs current activity in the pits through a set designed in collaboration with the local residents, who perform their own roles on screen.

A story about old town residents guarding their homes, and their attachment to their land. A reflection on human nature and emotions

Annita Malavasi was just 22 when the Germans occupied Italy, their former allies, in 1943. As a partisan in the Italian resistance named “Laila”, she moved throughout the Apennines with and between fighting units, delivering information, transporting weapons, and taking part in battles. She spent over a year in the Apennines, fighting against the German occupation. At the same time, she had to assert herself against the men of the mountain villages. By the end of the war, Laila had risen among the ranks to become one of the few female commanders in the Italian resistance. This film chronicles the story of a lifelong struggle for emancipation that began with the battle for Italy’s liberation from fascism. Laila and her two comrades, Gina “Sonia” Moncigoli and Pierina “Iva” Bonilauri talk about their time in the Resistenza and what it meant to them and many other women.

A choral narrative about female workers in one of the largest electronic industrial plants based in Vietnam.

A journey to the heart of the mystery of flamenco music. At 62 years old, the master flutist Jorge Pardo, father of the flamenco-jazz fusion with the guitarist Paco de Lucía, takes up the challenge to gather the greatest musicians of today for a unique concert. Transe is an adventure that gives pride of place to musical performances. From Andalusia to New York and India, Jorge Pardo gives us his vision of music. A living portrait of the "founding father" of flamenco-jazz fusion and the world of contemporary flamenco, where tradition opens its doors to the world.

A small town in Salento, some Soviet rock bands, CCCP and an 8-day trip between Moscow and Leningrad. The incredible story of a tour between two worlds that would never be the same again.

1989. Amid the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the largest communist party in Western Europe—Italy's PCI—announces that it'll change its name, vowing to become 'a new thing'. The film follows the debates taking place in various PCI branches across Italy in the aftermath of this historic decision.

The summer adventures of a group of kids from Chioggia, their dreams and their expectations.

In a virtual world inspired by the codes of gay dating apps, Homunculus follows the wanderings of a man in search of other men. Over the course of his travels, he will come to realise that people see him as an “Arab”: an ambiguous, virile and powerful entity both celebrated by white gay males and hated by the French police forces.

A filmmaker's 21-day homage to capture the ethereal essence of her unique ancient homeland soon to be submerged by a hydroelectric dam, AETHER is instinctively carried and driven by emotions, feelings and observations. It reveals the place's truths following its own unencumbered chronology. An invitation to a free-minded voyage into nature's cycle of birth-death-rebirth.

Capturing life on the Italian island of Lampedusa, a frontline in the European migrant crisis.

On the occasion of the thirty-year anniversary of the historical world victories, the documentary “Benetton Formula” traces for the first time the story of the blazoned Italian stable that innovated the world of Formula 1.

A journey through Greece and Europe’s past and recent history: from the Second World War to the current crisis. It is a historical documentary, a look into many stories. «If Democracy can be destroyed in Greece, it can be destroyed throughout Europe» Paul Craig Roberts

Just as "the fluttering of the wings of a butterfly can be felt on the other side of the world" (according to the Chinese proverb) a coffee offered in Naples can be felt in Buenos Aires and replicated in New York. In the bars of threedifferent cities ofthe world, the camera will record the "first flutter" of a coffee cup offered to a customer.