“Love and Anarchy” by Lina Wertmuller

Film screening and discussion | Free with registration.

After the murder of his friend by the hand of Fascists, peasant anarchist Tunin arrives in Rome intending to assassinate Benito Mussolini. A resolute idealist, he moves into a brothel where he’s welcomed by his friend’s fellow revolutionary cousin, Salomè, who works there as a prostitute. When Tunin falls in love with one of the girls, the entire operation is put at risk. A film of operatic emotion and subversive comedy, Love and Anarchy is a powerful statement on the terror of fascism and the ignoble fates of those who challenge it.

Genre: Drama, Comedy
Year: 1973
Country: Italy
Duration: 120′
Language: Italian with English subtitles
Rated R

The screening will be introduced by prof. Daniele Biffanti, Assistant Professor of Instruction in Italian, of the Department of French and Italian at Northwestern University. His research focuses on post-WWII literature, cinema, and political history. At the end of the film, there will be a Q&A with the audience.

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Chicago International Film Festival, the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago presents the retrospective ITALIAN WOMEN DIRECT, featuring a selection of films by Italian women directors that have been presented at the Festival through the past 60 years. With a weekly free screening, the Institute invites the audience to rediscover the history of Chicago’s longest running film festival, while learning how Italian women helped shape contemporary cinema, and contribute to ongoing discourses on representation in the film industry. Each title represents diverse themes, styles and narratives that all together provide a snapshot of the evolution of Italian cinema over more than half a century.