Orienting Italy : China Through the Lens of Italian Filmmakers

Orienting Italy explores contemporary Italian filmmakers' fascination with China and the Chinese in both documentary and fictional films. Delineating the contours of this fascination, the book begins with the works of Carlo Lizzani ( Behind the Great Wall , 1958) and Michelangelo Antonioni ( Chung Kuo—China , 1972), both of whom ventured to China with the aim of documenting new, yet physically and culturally distant, realities. Their documentary investigations yielded to fictional portrayals, from the lavish view of a historical Middle Kingdom by director Bernardo Bertolucci ( The Last Emperor , 1987) to the stark consideration of Italian economic exchange with contemporary China by Gianni Amelio ( The Missing Star , 2006). The wave of Chinese migration to Italy in the late twentieth century created a new sense of otherness within Italy as Chinese migrants became the subjects of fictional narratives and documentaries in the works of Stefano Incerti ( Gorbaciof , 2010) and Andrea Segre ( Shun Li and the Poet , 2011) and Riccardo Cremona and Vincenzo De Cecco ( Miss Little China , 2009). In the twenty-first century, a new chapter in the relationship between Italy and China has emerged in the form of transnational collaborations in the art and business of filmmaking. Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Acknowledgments 14 Introduction 18 Italy and China: A Long History of Exchange 20 The Drama of Chinese History on Film and in Reality since the Mid-Twentieth Century 24 An Italian Eye on China and Chinese Immigrants 26 1 Documenting China between Fact and Fiction: La muraglia cinese/Behind the Great Wall (Carlo Lizzani, 1958) 32 Background 33 Filming Other Lands 37 A Hybrid Genre 38 Themes 41 Lizzani as “Foreign Guest” 51 2 An Italian Director in China: Chung Kuo—Cina/Chung Kuo—China (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1972) 56 Political Background 58 Directorial Background 60 Background and Reception 61 A Question of Aesthetics 64 3 A Tale of the Forbidden City: Bernardo Bertolucci’s L’ultimo imperatore/The Last Emperor (1987) 80 Reception between Hollywood and China 85 The Texts behind the Film: Historical Fiction? 89 China as Female 93 Art: Individual or Collective? 95 Opera as Background to Historical Epic 97 The Liminal Space 98 Conclusion 101 4 Orienting Neorealism: Gianni Amelio’s La stella che non c’è/The Missing Star (2006) 102 Neorealismi/Neorealisms 106 The Appeal of Neorealism in China 113 A Question of Language 114 5 The Chinese Woman in Italy: Gorbaciof (Stefano Incerti, 2010) and Io sono Li/Shun Li and the Poet (Andrea Segre, 2011) 120 Gorbaciof (2010) 122 Io sono Li/Shun Li and the Poet (Segre, 2011) 130 Cinema as Visual Poetry 138 6 Documenting Chinese Immigrant Youth and Italian Anti-Immigrant Prejudice: Miss Little China (Riccardo Cremona and Vincenzo De Cecco, 2009) 144 Conclusion 160 The Future of China and Italy 164 Notes 168 Filmography and Works Cited 180 Index 194 Winner of the 2022 Book Award for Performance and Visual Culture presented by the American Association of Teachers of ItalianOrienting Italy explores contemporary Italian filmmakers'fascination with China and the Chinese in both documentary and fictional films. Delineating the contours of this fascination, the book begins with the works of Carlo Lizzani (Behind the Great Wall, 1958) and Michelangelo Antonioni (Chung Kuo—China, 1972), both of whom ventured to China with the aim of documenting new, yet physically and culturally distant, realities. Their documentary investigations yielded to fictional portrayals, from the lavish view of a historical Middle Kingdom by director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, 1987) to the stark consideration of Italian economic exchange with contemporary China by Gianni Amelio (The Missing Star, 2006). The wave of Chinese migration to Italy in the late twentieth century created a new sense of otherness within Italy as Chinese migrants became the subjects of fictional narratives and documentaries in the works of Stefano Incerti (Gorbaciof, 2010) and Andrea Segre (Shun Li and the Poet, 2011) and Riccardo Cremona and Vincenzo De Cecco (Miss Little China, 2009). In the twenty-first century, a new chapter in the relationship between Italy and China has emerged in the form of transnational collaborations in the art and business of filmmaking. "Explores Italian filmmakers's representations of China and the Chinese, both at home and abroad"-- Provided by publisher