Hard Light Cinema

HELLO MOVIE FANS 😀

Another semester, another great series with our pals at the University of Richmond. This series will bring you stone-cold Criterion-core Neorealist classics like La Strada, spaghetti westerns both mainstream and subversive in A Fistful of Dollars and The Great Silence, and an auteurist mafia epic by a modern Italian great in The Consequences of Love. All screenings are FREE and will be at Jepson 118 at 7PM with a brief Q&A to follow! See y’all there cinephiles 🇮🇹📽

All of these screenings are FREE to the public! There is plenty of parking by “the pines” in the Ryland Circle at the UR campus. Free refreshments will also be available inside. As always, we are very appreciative of our hosts at the University of Richmond’s Film Studies Program for making this partnership possible!

1. La Strada (1954) dir. Federico Fellini
2. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) dir. Sergio Leone
3. The Great Silence (1968) dir. Sergio Corbucci
4. The Consequences of Love (2004) dir. Paolo Sorrentino

La Strada (1954) dir. Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini’s perfect combination of his early Italian Neorealist tendencies and his adoration for Chaplin and the cirque, La Strada is a perfect road movie. The film stars Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina, sold to the strongman Zampanò to join a circus in a barren postwar Italy. There’s an immediate battle of the wills as Gelsomina remains optimistic and upbeat despite Zampanò’s brutal and impudent behavior. Their adventures on the road culminate in an unforgettable finale to what Fellini called one of his most sentimental films. Join us and consider bringing tissues!

— Warner West, Hard Light Cinema

A Fistful of Dollars (1964) dir. Sergio Leone

A Fistful of Dollars is a lot of things: one of the most iconic spaghetti westerns, the debut of Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name persona, and a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, just to name a few. It’s also a ton of fun! Gritty with a grey morality, A Fistful of Dollars is a classic that ought to be watched, or rewatched, on the big screen, so join us at Jepson 118 for a great time.

— Warner West, Hard Light Cinema

The Great Silence (1968) dir. Sergio Corbucci

Created as a response to the deaths of Malcolm X and Che Guevara, The Great Silence is your favorite politically-charged, revisionist Western that you haven’t seen yet. The film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as “Silence”, a mute gunslinger who is opposed by the bounty hunter “Loco” played by Klaus Kinski. The film questions vigilante justice and grey morality in a freezing snowy landscape. A favorite of Alex Cox and Quentin Tarantino, this “no-hope” cult classic is not one to be missed, so we’ll see you there!

— Warner West, Hard Light Cinema

The Consequences of Love (2004) dir. Paolo Sorrentino

For those familiar with Paolo Sorrentino, you know his films are often homages to Fellini with older men questioning the meaning of beauty and reflecting on their own success. The Consequences of Love, his breakthrough film, still has some of his central auteurist themes, but through the lens of an alt-mafia film with twists and turns and flashy cinematography like a Wong Kar-Wai film. The most recent film in our series, come and see one of Sorrentino’s early efforts that kickstarted his reputation in Italian Cinema that still remains strong among the international awards stage today.

–Warner West, Hard Light Cinema