Italy was one of the first European nations to establish a major film industry during the silent years, and after World War II it became a major center for movie making, hosting major international co-productions as well as vibrant and exciting local productions and spawning some of the most respect talents in world cinema, such as Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Michelangelo Antonioni and Bernardo Bertolucci. But by the dawn of the 1980s, Italy's film industry fell into a slump from which it has never fully recovered, and director Valerio Jalongo tries to explain what happened and why in the documentary Di Me Cosa Ne Sai (aka What Do You Know About Me). Along with discussing the creative downturn of Italian cinema, Jalongo looks at the business side of filmmaking as the American-based studios began putting pressure on European producers, and multiplex theaters increased the demand for outside product. Jalongo also profiles filmmaker Felice Farina, who learned the hard way about the inner workings of the Italian movie business when one of his projects was shut down midway through filming when the producer went broke, and Farina attempted to buy back the rights to the film and complete it on his own. What Do You Know About Me opened, appropriately enough, at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival, as part of the "Venice Days" program.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
