‘La Strada’ and the neo-realism movement – a post-screening discussion at BFI Southbank Jan 2020

We are pleased to present Mamoun Hassan’s discussion following the 2020 London screening of Federico Fellini’s La Strada, (Italy, 1954). In his conversation with David Somerset of the BFI, Mamoun provides an insight into the national cinema known as Italian neorealism – a movement characterised by stories set amongst the hardships of post-war Italian society. Touching on questions around whether a film can be real, or is always artificial, Mamoun refers to the work of several other neorealist film-makers: Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica, Cesare Zavattini – Screenwriter, and Gillo Pontecorvo.

He also touches on their influence on the British ‘neorealists’ of the Free Cinema movement:  Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz and Lindsay Anderson.

An audience Q&A follows.

The film was shown at the British Film Institute BFI Southbank in January 2020. It was voted by the Director’s poll of 2012 as one of the greatest movies of all time. The edit is interspersed with some great clips of the master’s work – enjoy!