Paisan

Roberto Rossellini 120th Birthday Tribute Screening

Roberto Rossellini followed up his paradigm-shifting Rome Open City with this exceptionally ambitious anthology film set at the end of World War II, chronicling the liberation of Italy from a multitude of perspectives gathered from across the country. Marked by the documentary-infused directness of Rome, Open City, the film’s cast of professional actors and striking non-professionals enact a kaleidoscopic account of the extreme consequences of life during wartime, as well as the emerging relations between American soldiers on their liberation campaign and the Italian civilians they cross paths with. A crucial installment of his War Trilogy (alongside Rome Open City and Germany Year Zero), Paisan endures as one of the great cinematic depictions of the effects of war on the lives of everyday people—and a signature work in Rossellini’s astonishing oeuvre.