Film Forum

Italy, 1974
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Starring Luigi Vannucchi, Dominique Darel, Rita Calderoni
In Italian with English subtitles.
Approx. 115 min. 4K restoration. 

A decade after proclaiming the death of cinema and tarrying in the hinterlands of educational television, Rossellini returned to the big screen with ANNO UNO. “I shall start again from the moment of PAISÀ,” Rossellini promised, linking his biopic of post-war prime minister Alcide De Gasperi to his earlier triumph. In truth, the style would be closer to the didactic philosophizing of his telefilms, the latest chapter in a cycle of history lessons that now linked the ancient world of Socrates, the enlightenment of Pascal and Descartes, and the very recent (and considerably more controversial) tenure of De Gasperi. The ANNO UNO project was developed by a right-wing industrialist and produced by one of Rossellini’s allies from state television channel RAI with funding from the Italian government; when it premiered in conjunction with the twentieth anniversary of De Gasperi’s death, Rossellini’s film about the birth of post-fascist Italy was, not surprisingly, greeted as Christian Democrat propaganda. Scarcely revived in the decades since, ANNO UNO has been newly restored and recently attracted fresh appraisals at the Locarno Film Festival.

Restored by Minerva Pictures and Cinecittà. 4K restoration courtesy Janus Films.