June 1944. In the newly liberated Rome, Roberto Rossellini and Sergio Amidei decide, against all odds, to make an unprecedented, true-to-life film on the tragic events that occurred during the Nazi occupation: Rome, Open City .
Acting
Giannini's Amidei simmers with exhausted idealism.
Direction
Lizzani shoots making-of like neorealism itself: urgent, imperfect, alive.
Production
Recreated 1944 Rome in 1996—period detail that breathes.
Director
Carlo Lizzani
Giancarlo Giannini
Sergio Amidei
Massimo Ghini
Roberto Rossellini
Anna Falchi
Maria Michi
Lina Sastri
Anna Magnani
Massimo Dapporto
Giuseppe Amato
Antonello Fassari
Aldo Fabrizi
Milva
Countess
Christopher Walken
Rod Geiger
Massimo Ciavarro
Massimo Serato
Francesca Ventura
Jone Tuzi
Francesco Siciliano
Federico Fellini
Mauro Leuce
Giuliano Montaldo
Civalleri (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The actual *Rome, Open City* was shot on scavenged short-ends and stolen film stock; Lizzani recreated this chaos by mixing 35mm with 16mm blow-ups.
Giancarlo Giannini had played Amidei once before—in the 1970s, he was the voice of adult Salvatore in *Cinema Paradiso*, another film about film's power to preserve what war destroys.
IT
