That’s La Morte: Italian Cult Cinema and the Years of Lead
- Submitting institution
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Birmingham City University
- Unit of assessment
- 34 - Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management
- Output identifier
- 34Z_OP_Q0042
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
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- Month
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- Year
- 2018
- URL
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https://vimeo.com/298472821
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- Yes
- Additional information
- This documentary (which Mendik researched and directed) examines the impact that the terrorist decade known as the anni di piombo had on 1970s Italian cult cinema. The documentary incorporates published research undertaken by Mendik (including a monograph, 2 book chapters and X journal articles), alongside recent Italian Studies debates on the anni di piombo. Mendik combines his own research with these works to conceptualise 1970s Italian cult cinema as a ‘trauma narrative’ that reflected wider social, political and gender tensions within the anni di piombo. The trauma narrative concept employed here is derived from Italian Studies scholar Ruth Glynn, who appears in the documentary as one academic narrator. Glynn’s intervention is complimented by the historical, sociocultural and psychoanalytic methodologies that define Mendik’s work in this field, and these are applied to a variety of horror, crime and sex comedy cycles. The documentary also employs archival resources derived from the libraries of Dania Film, one of Italy’s most prolific producers during the anni di piombo. Drawing extensively on archival materials and interviews with leading filmmakers from the era, the documentary creates new knowledge on Italian cinema during the anni di piombo through the following research questions: How did the production processes of companies such as Dania Film aid the proliferation of popular film genres in 1970s Italy? What were the key features and social relevance behind Dania Film cycles of: the giallo (thriller), the polizieschi (rogue cop film) and the Italian sex comedy? To what extent do key Italian popular film cycles released by Dania Film reflect existing debates around the anni di piombo? Since its release, the documentary screened extensively at international conferences and festivals, winning awards for Best Documentary (Florida Underground Indie Film Festival, 2019) and Best Educational Value Feature (Helsinki Educational Film Festival, 2019).
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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