One of the greats of Italian cinema, appreciated by audiences and critics, Luigi Comencini has nonetheless not received the full critical recognition his work deserves, nor has his name been placed among the highest echelons of Italian cinema. And yet, very few directors made as many important films across such a wide range of genres as Luigi Comencini. At a certain point labelled a “children’s director”, he undoubtedly gave us memorable films on childhood and the parent-child relationship: The Window to Luna Park, Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence, Misunderstood, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Voltati Eugenio. However, Comencini also directed some of the best melodramas of the 1950s and some of the greatest of the Commedia all’Italiana genre. Although lacking the cynicism of many Italian directors, his view of society grew increasingly bitter in the 1970s, with films such as Somewhere Beyond Love, The Scientific Cardplayer and Traffic Jam. Perhaps it was this bitterness that pushed him to become an increasingly attentive and compassionate observer of childhood.

Curated by Francesca Comencini and Emiliano Morreale