DR�LES, TENDRES ET M�CHANTS : LA COM�DIE � L'ITALIENNE DE TOT� � ROBERTO BENIGNI

France 1999 / Video / Color / 52 min.

Laughter as a means to understand reality, even in its moments of greatest despair (e.g. Roberto Benigni's LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL): this has always been the guiding principle of Italian film comedy and what made it, in its glory years, one of the rare examples of a cinema that was at once national and popular. The expression of a peculiarly Italian genius, capable of laughing under the direst of circumstances, Italian comedy since the 1950s has dramatized mundane life in films that are at once funny, warm and wickedly truthful. This documentary pays tribute to a special art.

Script:  Jean A. Gili.    Phot.:  Philippe Marchais.    Ed.:  Yves Deschamps.    Sales:  Kanpa� Productions, 102, rue du Faubourg Poissonni�re, 75010 Paris (France), t�l.: (33-01) 53 25 02 00, fax: (33-01) 53 25 02 05, e-mail: [email protected].

Jorge Dana Born in Argentina in 1947, Jorge Dana studied cinema in France and Great Britain and has since taught and written about the subject in both countries. He has directed shorts, videos, industrial films and television documentaries. Among his most recent films are: L'�POP�E DES VERTS (1993), La plan�te p�te les plombs (1997), Mes coupes du monde (1997), Fen�tre sur court (1998), Fritz Lang: le cercle du destin (1998) and Francis Blanche: � la vie � l'humour (1999).

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