Roberto Rossellini Retrospectives Head to L.A. and New York for the Italian Neorealist Master’s 120th Birthday

Italian neorealist master Roberto Rossellini, though he died in 1977, turns 120 this year. In celebration, major retrospective series are coming up in New York and Los Angeles.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, Cinecittà, and the Italian Ministry of Culture will present “Roberto Rossellini Prefers Real Life” at the Academy Museum in L.A. beginning November 4 and 5. On November 20 through December 10, Film Forum in New York will host the 25-film “Rossellini 120.” IndieWire shares exclusive details as well as a trailer for the Academy Museum series above.

Rossellini is best known for his films with his third wife, Ingrid Bergman, including “Stromboli,” “Europe ’51,” “Fear,” “Journey to Italy,” and “Joan of Arc at the Stake.”

Rossellini’s family — including daughter Isabella Rossellini, who will present the films — as well as Cinecittà CEO Manuela Cacciamani, and Amy Homma, president of the Academy Museum, will attend. The Academy Museum series will run through November 30.

The retrospective’s title is inspired by François Truffaut’s famous 1963 essay, in which he recognized Rossellini as the father of the French New Wave.

The program includes Rossellini films “Rome, Open City,” “Paisan,” “Germany, Year Zero.” The lineup also includes Guy Maddin’s “My Dad Is 100 Years Old,” featuring Isabella Rossellini, and the documentaries “Viva Ingrid!” by Alessandro Rossellini and “Rossellini Through His Own Eyes” by Adriano Aprà.

The Academy Museum audience will also see the world premiere of Cinecittà’s new 4K restoration of “Fear” from 1954, which was Rossellini’s last film with Bergman. The Venice Classics premiere of the restored “Journey to Italy ” will also make its way to the United States.

Isabella Rossellini, who will be present at the Academy Museum on November 4 and 5 and on the opening night of the Film Forum edition, said, “My father belief that films are more than entertainment. Cinema could bring awareness, knowledge and understanding. These were the guiding forces of his work. Father’s curiosity and love for life has always been an inspiration to me. I am so happy I can see again his films on the big screen and share them with the Academy audience. I thank Cinecittà for constantly preserving and restoring my father’s legacy, and the Academy Museum for supporting the dissemination of international cinema in its magnificent venue.”

Manuela Cacciamani, CEO of Cinecittà, added, “For thirty years, Cinecittà has held the rights to ten of Roberto Rossellini’s most representative films. These titles are periodically restored with the best available technologies in our own laboratories, and are also preserved in valuable 35mm prints, which will be made available exceptionally for this major event. To paraphrase Preminger, there is cinema before Roberto Rossellini and cinema after Roberto Rossellini. With this initiative, Cinecittà brings a revolutionary heritage of films, stories and emotions to the center of world cinema: the work of one of Italy’s greatest directors, a legacy for all humanity. We are proud to present it together with our partner, the prestigious Academy Museum, following joint tributes already dedicated to great figures of Italian cinema such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ennio Morricone, Sophia Loren and Carlo Rambaldi.”

K.J. Relth-Miller programs the retrospective for the Academy Museum. Paola Ruggiero curates restoration and film-processing supervision for Cinecittà, while Camilla Cormanni (Cinecittà) and Dawn Mori (Academy Museum) lead event conception and production.