Italian Film Festival - Rome Open City

1945 | 103 min | Drama, Thriller, War | Italy | Italian with English subtitles

CAST Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero, Vito Annichiarico

A profound drama about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the brave few who struggled against it, Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City, is a towering and still powerfully resonant cinematic achievement, presented in a new 4K digital restoration.

The first to form what would become The War Trilogy and starring Aldo Fabrizi as a priest helping the partisan cause and Anna Magnani in her breakthrough role as the fiancée of a resistance member, Rome, Open City is a shockingly authentic experience. Conceived and directed amid the ruin of World War II, with immediacy in every frame, it follows the resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi (Marcello Pagliero), who is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.

Marking a watershed moment in Italian cinema, this galvanic work garnered awards around the globe and left the beginnings of a new film movement in its wake. Seventy-six years after its initial release this masterpiece has not lost its power.

Rossellini forever changed the way we look at movies.

L.A. Weekly

WINNER

Cannes Film Festival 1946, Best Feature Film

WINNER

Nastro d’Argento Awards 1946, Best Film, Best Supporting Actress

WINNER

National Board of Review USA 1946, Best Actress, Best Foreign Film, Top Ten Films

WINNER

New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1946, Best Foreign Language Film