Dir. Valerio Ciriaci
2025 | 90 mins | Italy, USA | Italian with English subtitles

Elvira Notari made just 163 minutes of film yet her contribution to the founding moments of early cinema can be traced. This documentary recovers the legacy of Italy’s first female director.

Just three feature films, two short documentaries and a few fragments, 163 minutes in all, is what remains of the filmography of Elvira Notari, Italy’s first female director. Her life remains partly an enigma — she left no letters or diaries, and few photographs depict her — her work is at the centre of renewed interest after decades of oblivion. A protagonist of the golden age of Neapolitan silent film, Elvira made some 60 feature films that, interweaving popular culture and an authentic look at city life, won audiences from Naples to Little Italy in the United States. With the arrival of sound, and affected by Fascist censorship, she left filmmaking in 1930. Her work fell into silence and most of her films were lost. Today, 150 years after her birth, Elvira returns to centre stage thanks to the work of scholars and artists who are recovering her legacy and reinterpreting it through the creation of new works. Interweaving historical memory and contemporary rediscovery, Elvira Notari. Oltre il silenzio restores a vivid and articulate portrait of a pioneer of cinema that resonates again in the present.

The film will be introduced by Valerio Ciriaci (director) and Antonella Di Nocera (producer) and who will join us for a post-screening Q&A along with guests Professor Danielle Hipkins and Dr Alessia Risi hosted by Valentina Todino from the Italian Cultural Association Exeter.

Venue: Studio 74, Exeter Phoenix

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