The Female Gaze in Italian Cinema

Since the dawn of cinema, directing has been considered a predominantly male sphere. Italian cinema is certainly no exception: at the beginning of the twentieth century, directors such as Elvira Notari and Elvira Giallanella were considered anomalies. Only in recent decades has the presence of women become less rare, even though they remain a minority. Exploring the film corpus of various Italian directors (from the aforementioned Notari and Giallanella to Lina Wertmüller, Cecilia Mangini, Roberta Torre, all the way down to Emma Dante), the course will ask if there is such a thing as a female gaze, a specific way of looking at the world, at things, at people.